| This study analyzes negotiations for the 1995 Mekong Agreement and examines the early implementation of the Agreement. The Mekong regime is defined as a governance system for water management in the Mekong Basin. The regime-member states are Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam; the two upper basin states, China and Myanmar, are not members. Although the regime has existed since 1957, the Agreement signaled the start of a new era in which water allocation is a key issue. The research question is: How, and to what extent, has the Mekong regime made progress on water allocation issues?; The dissertation reviews the history of the Mekong regime, surveys current water resource development in the Mekong Basin, and describes the geopolitical context for the Agreement. Negotiations for the Agreement and its early implementation are then examined. The study constructs an analytic framework based on the work of three negotiation researchers: Howard Raiffa, James Sebenius, and Lawrence Susskind. Information for the analysis comes from interviews with the negotiators, negotiation documents, press reports, and the author's personal experiences.; Three levels of hierarchical rules exist in the Mekong regime: constitutional, legislative, and administrative. The Agreement represents a new constitution because it specifies principles, procedures and organizational arrangements. The Agreement was possible because: (i) the Mekong states wanted to maintain amicable relations in the post-Cold War era, (ii) governments from Europe and Japan subsidize the Mekong regime, and (iii) planned Chinese reservoirs will augment the dry season water supply. Mediation by the United Nations Development Programme was necessary in formulating the Agreement.; The Agreement created the Mekong River Commission (MRC), and requires the MRC to formulate legislative rules on: (i) minimum flows in the Mekong River, (ii) procedures for reviewing proposed water uses, and (iii) a non-binding basin development plan. The MRC has encountered difficulties drafting these legislative rules because of the absence of mediation, the MRC's low status on the region's foreign policy agenda, and the contentious nature of water allocation issues. The restructuring of the Mekong regime will not be complete until the MRC has a set of administrative rules on specific water uses. |
