Hydro-‐political Baseline of the Upper Jordan River - Ibrahim Abd El Al

Power, and hydro-­‐hegemony
The analytical approach of hydro-­‐hegemony builds on International Relations and
hydropolitical theory to recognise that a position of hegemony in a basin may be held by one
riparian actor if there is clear asymmetry in its favour of the balance of three ‘pillars’:
riparian position, exploitation potential, and power (Zeitoun and Warner 2006). The
approach emphasises that expressions of power (‘hard’, or more often ‘soft’, power) and
power asymmetry are key elements in determining outcomes of water conflicts, and the
character of interaction between states over the flows. Basin ‘hegemons’ are found to
establish and consolidate control over transboundary resources through any of a number of
tactics informing strategies of a) resource capture; b) containment of challenges from other
actors; and c) integration of interests through the use of incentives.
Bargaining and attempts to ‘sanction’ discourse are seen as forms of soft power that
complement more overt expressions of hard power, and can be used towards either
integrative or distributive ends (Zeitoun, et al. 2011). Both forms of power are very actively
in use in the Upper Jordan River, where the consequences of Israeli expressions of hard
power complement less directed expressions of soft power. Israel’s very well-­‐entrenched
position as basin hegemon is found to be contested verbally, as well as (if much more rarely
and mildly) in practice.
Environmental Diplomacy and Peace-­‐making
Foreign ministries are increasingly recognising the importance of ‘water-­‐diplomacy’ as a key
component of their foreign missions (Kjellen 2007). Such diplomacy was in full swing in the
Upper Jordan River during the 1950s ‘Johnston negotiations’, and employed more recently
in relation to the Wazzani Springs tributary to the Hasbani River. ‘Environmental peace-­‐
making’ efforts are prone to taking the environment as the starting point towards political
resolution, or to resolve environmental conflicts without addressing the political situation.
Significant efforts in this regard have been made on the Lower Jordan River by Friends of the
Earth Middle East (FOEME 2010), and on the entire basin by the Strategic Foresight Group
(SFG 2010). Tentative environmental diplomacy efforts have been made with the four ‘Arab’
states by the Issam Fares Institute (AUB) through the Arab Jordan River Initiative.
Discourse, narratives, and sanctioned discourse
‘Discourse’ is a term used to describe the ensemble of messages and ideas passed through
media, stories, academia and official propaganda. Discourses may be constructed by actors
in attempts to influence the social order, according to some International Relations theory.
Environmental discourses are referred to by Maarten Hajer (1997) as ‘storylines’ or
‘narratives’ – what Dryzek (1997) understands as “shared ways of apprehending the world”.
Accepting that discourses are formed and sanctioned in this manner is important to
understanding the Hasbani water conflict for a number of reasons. As we will see in Section
16