The Elbe River, with its length of 1 094 km from the springs in the Krkonose Mountains to the North Sea mouth at Cuxhaven and with its catchment area of 148 268 km2, is the fourth biggest river in Europe; after the Donau (817 000 km2), the Visla (194 112 km2), and the Rhine (183 800 km2). The Elbe River basin spans four countries: its largest parts lie in Germany (65.5 %) and in the Czech Republic (33.7 %), tiny parts lie in Austria (0.6 %) and in Poland (0.2 %).

It speaks the language of riffles and babbles, not legal rights and codes, but the Whanganui River, New Zealand’s third largest, has received something no other river in the country – and possibly the world – yet has: a legal voice....

This article provides an institutional analysis of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and highlights the institutional dissonance between regional and national decision-making landscapes in the Lower Mekong Basin.