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This paper presents a qualitative case study of the world's first water futures contract in California, a market that enables hedgers and speculators to bet on water prices. It is attempted to explain which factors shaped the emergence of the unique market by applying the Political Process Inherent Dynamics Approach (PIDA), an analytical framework from the field of environmental policy analysis. In addition, the topics of heated debate that have surrounded the new market are summarized and contextualized. To obtain the relevant information, expert interviews, complemented by online sources, were subjected to a Qualitative Content Analysis. It is concluded that the launch of the contract is an extreme case of private business actors shaping water governance, made possible by a longstanding market philosophy in the US, that gives leeway for actors of financialization to create facts. In the political-administrative realm, a lack of accountability and will to interfere seems to prevail. However, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other actors have led efforts to abolish the market, criticizing water futures in ways that resonate with broader debates about privatization and food futures.

This article examines the intersection of war and gender through a visual analysis of TikTok videos depicting Ukrainian soldiers. Framed as the first TikTok war, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia has been intensively followed on social media. Videos of Ukrainian soldiers sharing their daily lived experience of the conflict on TikTok circulated widely to a global audience. By staging their lived reality, often in a playful manner, the soldiers not only perform their identity as defenders of the Ukrainian nation-state, but they also perform their gender identity. By asking how these popular self-representations are gendered, this research contributes to feminist approaches in critical military studies, as well as to the literature on the popular cultural constitution of world politics. The results of an audiovisual analysis of TikTok videos indicate that war is being redefined as an integral part of everyday life and that this reconfiguration is playing a decisive role in mobilizing support for Ukraine. At first sight, a shift away from militarized masculinity that could reshape the gender order can be envisioned. However, I nuance this view by showing how masculinity is subtly adapting to new visual regimes, limiting TikTok’s potential to disrupt gender subordination.