International water security

Water is essential for all aspects of life. Managing water is a challenging task, particularly in

shared water basins that host more than half of the world's population.

National sovereignty and security considerations have long constrained the reasonable, equitable and sustainable utilization of international water courses. With post-Cold War demo cratization and globalization on the rise, domestic actors have an increasingly important role to play in national decision-making and traditional foreign policy debates. This change entails new threats but also presents new opportunities for ensuring International water security.

This volume explores both these threats and opportunities through the presentation of case studies that analyze the multi-faceted and dynamic nature of the interplay between domestic and international water security. In so doing, a range of past, on-going and emerging international water disputes from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe are examined. Well-known cases are revisited from new perspectives while new approaches are suggested as analytical frameworks and practical tools for understanding and coping with emerging security threats.