Through the Looking Glass of Global Constitutionalism and Global Administrative Law

In addition to (or sometimes rather than primarily) attribut- ing it to water scarcity, water crisis has been described as a ‘crisis of governance’; with the word ‘crisis’ also indicating that water governance lacks (full) legitimacy. The article undertakes the task to analyse the current status of global water governance (GWG) from the perspective of two com- peting theories relating to the legitimacy of global govern- ance, namely global constitutionalism (GC) and global administrative law (GAL). Having mapped the current legal framework of GWG from these two perspectives, it is dis- cussed how these theories might shape GWG and how this shaping could contribute to solving the water crisis. In addi- tion, it is also explored whether reading one of the most accepted proposals for legitimising global water governance, the concept of ‘integrated water resources management’ (IWRM), through the lenses of either GC or GAL would have an impact on how this concept is interpreted, and whether it can be a useful mechanism to address the water crisis. The use of two theories analysing the same subject matter provides interesting insights into global water govern- ance and the nature of the water crisis as well as the rela- tionship between these two theories.