International Journal of Political Science and Development
 

International Journal of Political Science and Development

Vol. 4(7), pp. 236–244, August, 2016. 

DOI: 10.14662/IJPSD2016.030

ISSN: 2360-784X

Research Paper

Securitizing Water in the Middle East

RASHA MANSOUR

Department of Political Science, British University in Egypt, El Sherouk City, Cairo, 11837 - P.O. Box 43.

Email: Rasha.Mansour@bue.edu.eg

Accepted 18 August 2016

The paper aimed to explore the securitisation of water in the Nile basin. In the Nile basin, as in the Middle East, the securitisation of water issues occurred in the context of larger political grievances, inherited from colonial times. The trigger in all cases was actual water scarcity. The securitising actors were in all cases decision-makers, in case of the Tigris-Euphrates basin, NGOs and human rights activists were also securitising actors. The target audiences in all cases included the national public as well as international public opinion, as well as decision-makers in donor countries - in the case of Tigris-Euphrates basin and the Nile basin. Several securitisation mechanisms were used simultaneously in all cases; in the case of the West Bank Aquifer, for example, resource capture (structural securitisation) went hand in hand with joint water management committees (institutional securitisation). In all cases language played a crucial role in the securitisation of water resources, especially in the cases of Egypt and Israel where the symbolic value of water and land are closely tied with religious traditions inherited from ancient times

Keywords: securitisation of water in the Nile basin, In the Nile basin, Middle East

 

Cite This Article As: MANSOUR R (2016). Securitizing Water in the Middle East. Inter. J. Polit. Sci. Develop. 4(7): 236-244

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