Table 1. Overview of the case characteristics. Case Project focus Purpose of actor analysis Actor analysis method National Water Resources Plan project, Egypt Preparation of a national water resources management policy Support the project in beginning a new phase of strategy formulation Metagame analysis (Howard 1989) Diffuse pollution in North Holland, the Netherlands Preparation of a provincial water quality management plan Complement technical analysis with attention to policy implementation Dynamic actor network analysis (Bots et al. 2000) River basin planning pilot project for Büyük Menderes basin, Turkey Preparation of a river basin management plan in line with the European Union’s Water Framework Directive Support the project through an exploration of the actor environment and the identification of issues to be included in the plan’s development Dynamic actor network analysis (Bots et al. 2000) Water Resources Management through Integrated Development project, Central Cebu, the Philippines Development of a regional water resources management strategy and implementation of pilot activities for land and water conservation Support the project through the formulation of specific research questions and the organization of actor involvement Argumentative analysis (Toulmin 1958, Dunn 1993) and analysis of options (Howard 1989)