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Marcus DuBois King (Ed) - Water and Conflict in the Middle East (Book Review)

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Abstract

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) can be considered as one of the most water-stressed regions in the world. However, existing literature regarding the hydropolitics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) mainly deals with the transboundary waters such as Nile, Jordan, and Euphrates-Tigris and holds states as the main actors. However, groundwater resources, transboundary aquifers, and non-state actors constitute the new developments in the hydropolitics literature. In this context, Water and Conflict in the Middle East, edited by Marcus DuBois King, contributes to the literature while discussing the newly emerging areas in the hydropolitics of the MENA.
BOOK REVIEWS
258 Insight Turkey
hensive and nuanced understanding for the
reader. is book is recommended for read-
ing by economics scholars and all academics
who are eager to gain a comprehensive un-
derstanding of Palestine and explore the roots
of the colonization paradigm.
e Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) can be considered as one
of the most water-stressed regions
in the world. However, existing lit-
erature regarding the hydropolitics
of the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) mainly deals with the trans-
boundary waters such as Nile, Jor-
dan, and Euphrates-Tigris and holds
states as the main actors. However, groundwa-
ter resources, transboundary aquifers, and non-
state actors constitute the new developments
in the hydropolitics literature. In this context,
Water and Conict in the Middle East, edited by
Marcus DuBois King, contributes to the litera-
ture while discussing the newly emerging areas
in the hydropolitics of the MENA.
Beginning with a short introduction, in the
rst chapter, King underlines the basic features
and content of the book. Criticizing the com-
mon approach regarding the water and con-
ict nexus, that water stress and shortages do
not lead to conict, King emphasizes that such
arguments are challenged in the book since
there is, in fact, evidence that water shortages
and stress may precipitate conict between
actors. Besides, the authors agree that com-
petition over scarce water resources and poor
water governance are the main reasons for the
regions water stress. However, fundamental
reasons that lead to the water ques-
tion in the Middle East, such as civil
wars, the emergence of failed states,
and the rise of non-state actors, spe-
cically in Syria and Iraq, such as
ISIS, are underlined in the book.
Chapter 2, by Hussein A. Amery,
deals with the potential water
conict zones in the Middle East through
a Neo-Malthusian perspective. e author
generally outlines the Euphrates-Tigris and
Nile hydropolitics within which the South-
east Anatolian Project (GAP) and the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) are
constructed. Food and water weaponization
in armed conicts such as Syria and Yemen
are also examined. However, discussing the
Atatürk and Ilısu Dams and their impacts on
Turkish-Syrian and Turkish-Iraqi relations,
Amery disregards how the Ilısu Dam nega-
tively inuenced Turkish-Iranian relations.
On the other hand, regarding the GERD dis-
pute, the author neglects several points, such
as Omar al-Bashir’s support to the GERD, the
role of other Nile riparians, and Egypt’s do-
mestic troubles.
Chapter 3, written by Paul A. Williams, is
mainly related to the impact of the GAP on
the emergence of Türkiye’s hydro-hegemony
Edited by Marcus DuBois King
Oxford University Press, 2020, 268 pages, $28.19, ISBN: 9780197552636
Reviewed by Hasan İlkbahar, Düzce University
Water and Conict in the Middle East
2024 Wınter 259
in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin. While the au-
thor utilizes a few tables regarding the GAP
dams and Hydroelectric Power Plans (HEPP),
it would be better to use a map that would
demonstrate Türkiye’s dams on Euphrates-
Tigris. erefore, it is challenging to under-
stand only textual narratives with several
quantitative data. Besides, Williams primar-
ily focuses on Turkish-Syrian relations and
does not provide details about Turkish-Iraqi
relations. Finally, the author deploys “hydro-
hegemony” as a theoretical framework, based
chiey on the actors’ power dynamics. And
dam buildings on the river system, which can
be considered one of the essential tactics for
hydro-hegemon but are not detailed through-
out the chapter.
Chapter 4, written by Marcus DuBois King,
explains the hydropolitics of the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) based on in-
terviews, media reports, and academic re-
sources. Addressing the emergence of the
KRG in the historical context, he outlines the
signicant parameters of the KRGs politics,
the water resources of Northern Iraq, and
anthropogenic and natural factors that have
contributed to the emergence of water stress
in Northern Iraq. Although the framework of
hydro-hegemony (FHH) is originally a state-
centric realist approach, the author innovates
by deploying the FHH to explain the KRGs
hydropolitics. However, it would be better to
underline what dierentiates the sub-state ac-
tors from the states in hydropolitical terms,
and to explain the contributions of the sub-
state actors to the FHH literature.
Chapter 5, written by Mark Giordano, Kata-
lyn Voss, and Signe Stroming, pertains to
groundwater resources in the Middle East
and North Africa. e authors mainly focus
on the current knowledge of groundwater re-
sources, the positive and negative impacts of
groundwater use and overuse, and the nexus
between groundwater use, food security, and
food prices. Since data availability is problem-
atic regarding groundwater resources, they
provide several databases and models, such
as the Aquastat and the Gravity Recovery
and Climate Experiment (GRACE). Further-
more, the authors focus on several problem-
atic and disputed transboundary aquifers in
the MENA. Accordingly, they claim that the
Mountain and Coastal Aquifers shared be-
tween Israel and Palestine are the most prob-
lematic ones in the region. Whereas literature
mostly focuses on the Jordan River dispute
between Israel and Palestine, this chapter un-
orthodoxly touches upon the importance of
the transboundary aquifer problem between
them.
Chapter 6, written by Helen Lackner, concen-
trates on Yemens community-based water
management strategies, mostly based on the
Islamic rules and law or urf. Several strategy
documents and associations that are integral
parts of customary water management are ex-
amined. Nevertheless, the most critical part
of the chapter is the conclusion since it con-
centrates on the post-war priorities of water
management in Yemen. e author does not
believe the community-based approach will
be “feasible” or “helpful” (p. 146) and proposes
a complementary strategy that involves state
intervention and democratic participation.
Lackner also proposes substantially reducing
water usage in the agriculture sector while pri-
oritizing human drinking and domestic needs,
which require strong state capacity. Moreover,
since there is no sign of peace, Lackner also
stresses the emergence of “climate/water refu-
gees” in the neighboring countries.
Chapter 7, written by Tobias von Lossow,
taking the so-called ISIS as a case study, dis-
cusses weaponizing water in the Middle East.
BOOK REVIEWS
260 Insight Turkey
According to the author, the ISIS had weap-
onized water in three dierent ways: limita-
tion of available water at the dams, release of
excessive water through canals and barrages
causing ooding, and contamination of water
resources. However, the ISIS also utilized wa-
ter as a legitimate instrument in which water
and electricity services were used to show its
ability to establish a state-like entity. It is also
claimed in the chapter that nearly all the ac-
tors, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA)
and Assad-backed groups, weaponized water
in the armed conicts. However, the author
disregards how PYD/YPG, which mainly
holds the water resources in the Syrian terri-
tory, weaponized water in the region.
Chapter 8, written by Nael Shama and Islam
Hassan, mainly deals with the foreign policy
of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Red
Sea and the Gulf of Aden regarding water-
space and shipping lanes. According to the
authors, the UAE has particular interests in
the Red Sea due to the gaining economic and
geopolitical inuence, including trade, navi-
gation, military and naval bases, and ghting
against Islamism. Although these factors are
signicant to understand the UAE activism
in East Africa and the Red Sea, the authors
should also focus on the role of the UAE in
the GERD negotiations among Egypt, Sudan,
and Ethiopia since the UAE is claimed to sup-
port the GERD, and it has agricultural solid
trade connections with Sudan.
In conclusion, Water and Conict in the
Middle East have made several contribu-
tions to the literature on the hydropolitics of
the Middle East. Firstly, it discusses concepts
and subjects, such as transboundary aqui-
fers, groundwater resources, and the weap-
onization of water from new perspectives.
Secondly, it focuses on the newly emerging
non-state actors that have inuenced the hy-
dropolitics in the region, such as the ISIS and
KRG. irdly, it has concentrated largely on
the current hydropolitical developments in
the Middle East, such as the Yemeni water cri-
sis and GERD. In terms of criticism, it could
be argued that the GERD dispute would have
been explained more fully if it had been ex-
amined in a separate chapter. Furthermore,
the Afghanistan-Iran dam disputes, Palestin-
ians’ water security and PYD/YPG as a non-
state actor in the Middle East are signicant
subjects le out of the book. Despite these
shortcomings, Water and Conict in the Mid-
dle East does provide academics, researchers,
and practitioners with new insights, perspec-
tives, and opinions.
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