Transboundary water interaction III: contest and compliance

Mark Zeitoun (), Ana Elisa Cascão, Jeroen Warner, Naho Mirumachi, Nathanial Matthews, Filippo Menga and Rebecca Farnum
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Mark Zeitoun: University of East Anglia
Ana Elisa Cascão: Stockholm International Water Institute
Jeroen Warner: Wageningen University
Naho Mirumachi: King’s College London
Nathanial Matthews: CGIAR Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems
Filippo Menga: University of Manchester
Rebecca Farnum: King’s College London

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 2017, vol. 17, issue 2, No 8, 294 pages

Abstract: Abstract This paper serves international water conflict resolution efforts by examining the ways that states contest hegemonic transboundary water arrangements. The conceptual framework of dynamic transboundary water interaction that it presents integrates theories about change and counter-hegemony to ascertain coercive, leverage, and liberating mechanisms through which contest and transformation of an arrangement occur. While the mechanisms can be active through sociopolitical processes either of compliance or of contest of the arrangement, most transboundary water interaction is found to contain elements of both. The role of power asymmetry is interpreted through classification of intervention strategies that seek to either influence or challenge the arrangements. Coexisting contest and compliance serve to explain in part the stasis on the Jordan and Ganges rivers (where the non-hegemons have in effect consented to the arrangement), as well as the changes on the Tigris and Mekong rivers, and even more rapid changes on the Amu Darya and Nile rivers (where the non-hegemons have confronted power asymmetry through influence and challenge). The framework also stresses how transboundary water events that may appear isolated are more accurately read within the many sociopolitical processes and arrangements they are shaped by. By clarifying the typically murky dynamics of interstate relations over transboundary waters, furthermore, the framework exposes a new suite of entry points for hydro-diplomatic initiatives.

Keywords: Transboundary water; Conflict and cooperation; Hegemony; Counter-hegemony; Hydro-hegemony (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10784-016-9325-x

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