The impact of multi-state governance on river basins

Water is essential for economic growth and the continued development and stability of a state; it is also necessary to sustain life. However, water also has a variety of uses and users. It is also crosses national borders without respects to sovereignty. All of these characteristics contribute to the potential for conflict over water, especially transnational bodies of water. As a result, I examine the usefulness of governance in the management of transboundary river basins, particularly with reference to hydropower development. I use a qualitative analysis to demonstrate the utility of governance in cooperation-promotion and conflict-resolution. In particular, I illustrate the effectiveness of governance for the development of hydropower by using case studies of basin from different regions of the world; specifically, I analyze the Columbia, Danube, La Plata, and Mekong river basins. In each case study, I examine the governance strategies of the basin and analyze their usefulness in the development of a specific hydropower project. I also assess the ability of these varying governance mechanisms to incorporate different stakeholders into the process of development. From my analysis, I find that while governance is useful for the development of hydropower, most of the projects developed as a result of negotiations between states. I also find that all of the cases faced difficulties engaging stakeholders in the development of these projects, and as a result, certain groups were marginalized.