Abstract
This thesis challenges the mainstream analyses of hydro-political relations in the Eastern Nile River Basin by providing a more nuanced understanding of the role of power in the management and allocation of water resources. It is argued, in recent years, that the established hegemonic order on the Nile which is underpinned by asymmetric power relations, has been contested through a variety of counter-hegemonic strategies deployed within the Basin. Through an examination of the domestic and international factors which have influenced Ethiopia’s contestation of Egyptian hydro-hegemony, this study provides insights into the processes of counter-hegemony and the options available for non-hegemonic riparians attempting to challenge the consolidated control of water resources in transboundary river basins. Additionally, this approach will help reveal how the positions adopted by the other Eastern Nile riparians – Sudan and Egypt – have changed in response to the contestation of the hydro-hegemonic status quo.Power and hegemony, as conceptualised by International Political Economy and Neo-Gramscian authors, are the essential ideational backbones of the analytical framework which informs this research. In this regard, the Framework of Hydro-Hegemony (Zeitoun and Warner 2006), which asserts that asymmetric power relations represent the cornerstone of the analysis of hydro-political relations, is of particular importance to this study. Building on the work of Warner (2008) and Zeitoun et al. (2011) on critical transboundary hydro-politics, the research expands on the Framework of Counter-Hegemony (Cascão 2009b) by identifying and examining the two-level game (Putnam 1988) being pursued by the EPRDF-led Ethiopian government to contest Egyptian hydro-hegemony on the Nile. The analysis of the domestic and international determinants driving Ethiopian counter-hegemony in the Eastern Nile offers an original contribution to the study of hydro-political relations in the Basin. It also provides new knowledge on the dynamics of domestic water governance in Ethiopia and its relationship to issues of state-building, nationalism and development. Specifically, the study will provide insights on the ongoing construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in western Ethiopia, a ‘game-changing’ hydraulic development in the Eastern Nile Basin.
| Date of Award | 2018 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Naho Mirumachi (Supervisor) & Raymond Bryant (Supervisor) |