Beyond state politics in Asia's transboundary rivers

Revisiting two decades of critical hydropolitics

Bibliographic Data

ID5697472
AuthorsSarah Rogers (0000-0003-0437-5187, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author), Zali Fung (0000-0003-1754-5616, The University of Melbourne), Vanessa Lamb (0000-0003-1717-6777, York University), Ruth Gamble (0000-0002-8230-5988, La Trobe University), Brooke Wilmsen (0000-0002-0970-7673, La Trobe University), Fengshi Wu (0000-0001-8859-7355, UNSW Sydney), Xiao Han (0000-0001-5129-3788, Hohai University)
Year2023
Volume17
Issue4
Publication date2023-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeography Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1749-8198 • E-ISSN: 1749-8198
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/gec3.12685
OpenAlexW4324375451
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited114

For the past two decades, work across a range of fields, but particularly geography, has engaged 'critical hydropolitics' as a way to highlight not only the politics inherent in decisions about water, but also the foundational assumptions of more conventional hydropolitical analyses that tend to focus on conflicts and cooperation over water resources, with a heavy emphasis on 'the state' as the key actor and scale of analysis. In this article we review critical hydropolitical literature that focuses on transboundary rivers that descend from the eastern Tibetan Plateau, namely the Lancang-Mekong, Yarlung Tsangpo-Brahmaputra and Nu-Salween river basins. We highlight five key and interrelated themes that have emerged in the literature to date - the state, scale, infrastructure, knowledge and logics, and climate change - and discuss how these provide useful tools for more fine-grained analyses of power, control and contestation

Cartography · Climate change · Geography · Political science · Politics · Regional science · Computer Science · Engineering · Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact · Law · Transboundary Water Resource Management · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Geology

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