Rawia Tawfik

• Doctor of Philosophy in Politics (University of Oxford)
• Professor (Associate) at Cairo University

In April 2021, Egypt and Sudan announced the failure of the African Union ( au )-led negotiations over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam ( gerd ). Why did the au fail to achieve progress on the contested issues in spite of the parties’ rhetorical commitment to settle these issues, the mediation capacity that the au de...

Sudan’s decision to normalize relations with Israel sparked controversy about its reasons for doing so and the potential impact on the country’s fragile political transition. The decision was mostly attributed to American pressures, new regional alliances, and Sudan’s economic crisis. Tawfik offers a different perspective by linking Sudan’s normali...

This paper argues that benefit-sharing literature has assumed, rather than examined, the conditions under which cooperation over shared water resources from transboundary rivers can lead to regional cooperation in other economic sectors-cooperation 'beyond the river'. Using the case of the Eastern Nile Basin, the paper illustrates how economic coop...

On the occasion of world water day, this opinion piece critically reflects on the recent resurgence of the "water wars" narrative in policy and media circles and questions its timing, purpose and the evidence on which it is based.

North African countries have been facing ever-increasing security challenges, especially after the popular uprisings since 2010. This chapter argues that in spite of these challenges, the region still lacks the necessary conditions to strengthen security and developmental interdependence compared to other parts of the continent. Using the Regional...

A new hydro-political order is emerging in the Nile Basin. Upstream riparian states have improved their bargaining power vis-à-vis downstream countries by adopting a common position in the negotiations over a new framework agreement to govern the utilisation of the Nile waters. Some upstream riparians have unilaterally constructed hydraulic project...

The Pan-African movement and the contribution of the Egyptian state and society to this movement have witnessed a significant change over the last five decades. The article traces the transformations in the meaning of Pan-Africanism from liberation from discrimination and colonialism to liberation from authoritarianism and a struggle for democracy...

Negotiations over the GERD have not transformed the debate in the Eastern Nile from sharing water to sharing benefits. Nationalistic discourse used by the three governments, the political sensitivity of the Nile issue, cautious Egyptian approach towards Eastern Nile cooperation beyond the project, divisions within policy circles in Egypt on dealing...

The paper questions the argument of the hydro-hegemony framework that counter-hegemonic mechanisms used by non-hegemons in transboundary rivers lead to a more equitable order of water and benefit-sharing, using the case of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It agrees with hydro-hegemony scholars that the GERD is a 'game changer' that chall...

Discussion Paper, Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

The model required to drive socio-economic development in Africa, and the relationship between the state and the private sector based on that model, have sparked much controversy among African analysts. Some question the relevance of other successful models of development, such as in the liberal West or in East-Asia, to the African context. Others...