Distance Learning Module 20 - Hydro-Hegemony (National Power Over Water)

 



  • Hydro-hegemony is the four systems by which any country measures and controls the waters in its own territory.

  • Geography power is locational position in the headwaters or downstream on any given river system.

  • Material power is based on population, literacy, military strength, infrastructure, and any materials attributes a country enjoys as an internal standard of living.

  • Bargaining power is about knowing the rules of water and diplomatic negotiations.

  • Ideational power is the power of new ideas about water, and new ways of thinking about water problems.

  • Hydro-hegemony is a semi-quantitative assessment of the strength by which any country can think to manage its water resources to a maximum of efficiency and beneficial use.

  • Afghanistan has five major river systems (Kabul, Helmand, Harirud – Tenjen – Murghab, and Amu Darya), all with many tributaries that flow out to neighboring countries.

  • In part because of poor management, several of these large rivers have dried up recently before crossing the borders into adjacent districts.

  • Some maneuvers have been made by regional nation-states to maximize control of the water resources in whatever ways possible.

  • Afghanistan and Tajikistan, positioned at the top of the watersheds, are in otherwise enviable positions, providing that their mutual hydro-cognizant capacities can be raised sufficiently and swiftly enough, before too much opposition rises to the fair use of their waters.

  • Raising of hydro-cognizant capacities is necessary before entering into eventual negotiations with all the neighbors about water.


Distance Learning Module #20 Sample Questions (click here)