Title:
Transboundary Waters: Conflict and Cooperation
Stream:
Economics
Preamble: This course helps understand the challenges and opportunities associated with managing transboundary water resources. The course introduces the basic concepts of transboundary waters along with the water war debates. Transboundary cooperation, conflict prevention and mitigation are discussed using analytical frameworks developed to understand the conflictcooperation relation. The course will also examine the international laws and how legal principles and rules can promote water interaction and cooperation. Furthermore, contemporary issues related to transboundary water conflict and cooperation will be discussed using case studies from international river basins.
Course Content: Introduction to Transboundary waters: water as an international issue, thewater war debate, asymmetric endowment; Conflict, Cooperation and Power: coexisting conflict and cooperation, issue of sovereignty, riparian position and externalities, soft and hard power, power asymmetry and hydro hegemon, confronting power; Analyzing Transboundary Water Interaction: the framework of hydro hegemony, TWINS framework, principles of benefit sharing; International Water Laws: concept and evolution, absolute territorial theories and limited territorial sovereignty, UN convention on transboundary waters, role of treaties, bilateral vs. multilateral treaties; Water diplomacy: multi-track water diplomacy, platforms for dialogues and negotiations; Case Studies of Transboundary Water Management Initiatives: the case of Nile, Senegal, Indus, Ganges,Jordan and Mekong River Basin.
References:
1. Naho Mirumachi, Transboundary Water Politics in Developing World, Routledge, 2015
2. Christina Leb, Cooperation in the Law of Transboundary Water Resources, University Press, Cambridge, 2013
3. Anton Earle, Transboundary Water Management: Principles and Practice, Routledge, 2010
4. Aaron Wolf, Regional Water Cooperation as Confidence Building: Water Management as a Strategy for Peace, Adelphi Research, 2006
