• Hierarchical decision-making and regulatory instruments prevail. Water permit systems don't ensure sustainable abstraction and equitable use due to lack of information & capacity and political economy factors
• Network-style governance: basin governance not implemented (Malawi) discontinued (Jordan) or compromised (Ethiopia, Mexico) => no mediation of water allocation conflicts; civil society participation stronger in the two democracies, but rather conflictive in Mexico, rather ineffective in Malawi
• Market-based instruments: water fees inconsistently implemented; hardly incentivize water saving
=> Given cases lack synergistic combinations of governance modes and consistent policy mixes
=> More fundamental transformations of state-society-nature relations needed for transformations to sustainability?