History and future of shared water resources

Hegemonic concepts exist within every society. They structure our cognitive maps and therefore contribute to shape our perception of the world, our definition of the issues we face and the analyses we can achieve. The idea of wars being waged for water has grown over the last twenty years to the point that it could become a new hegemonic concept. This idea is now widely contributing to shaping the perceptions of many present international situations. This article will investigate the issue of water wars as a hegemonic concept. It will first detail what is a hegemonic concept, how it is constructed and propagated. It will then turn to the issue of water wars and examine the pre-existing hegemonic concepts that provided the background enabling the emergence of this new hegemonic belief. It will then examine the manner in which the water war concept has been challenged over the last decade and how this matches a war of position as Gramsci defined it. It will tentatively identify the categories of social actors who benefit from either the water war or the water peace discourse and the categories of social actors who propagate these concepts.

Most of the water war literature has focused on the Middle East. This article will therefore explore the mechanisms whereby the water war has been constructed and propagated in Israel and in the Palestinian Territories as a case study.

Julie Trottier

Saint Peter's College - UK

 PDF Document (259 KB)