Milich, L., and R.G. Varady. 1999. Openness, sustainability, and public participation: New designs for transboundary river basin institutions, Journal of Environment and Development 8(3):258-306.
Compares conventional approaches to river basin management by transboundary environmental institutions – typically driven from the top, functioning behind closed doors, disregarding sustainability, and relying on technical or regulatory fixes – with a new, more democratic model being tested in the U.S.-Mexico border region in the form of the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC). Evaluates the extent to which the BECC has fulfilled its promises and the possibility that it might be adapted to serve as a model in other transboundary areas.