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Central Asian water neighbourhood: A constructivist reconceptualisation of hydropolitics in Central Asia

Timur Dadabaev
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tsukuba, Japan; dadabaev.timur.gm@u.tsukuba.ac.jp

Jenniver Sehring
Water Governance and Diplomacy, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Delft; The Netherlands; j.sehring@un-ihe.org

Nigora Djalilova
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tsukuba, Japan; d.nigora@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Transboundary water conflict and cooperation are often conceptualised through the premises of national sovereignty and national interests, which leads to transboundary collaboration being perceived as detrimental to (rational) sovereign state interests. For Central Asia, this perspective has led to a preoccupation by Western, rationalist IR theorists with conflict scenarios that have not occurred. In this paper, we apply a constructivist approach to understanding Central Asian hydropolitics and relate it to the discussion of emotional aspects of international relations. We do so through an analysis of the interconnection between the ideas of 'neighbourhood' and 'nationhood' in Central Asia, through the notions of brotherhood/fraternity and informal collective decision-making for joint water management. These two aspects can explain why – even in years of political tensions and heated rhetoric around water – an understanding persisted that water issues cannot be approached or resolved through violence or one-sided actions, and (informal) cooperation contributed to conflict prevention. Based on a review of four phases of hydropolitics in Central Asia, we elaborate the notion of a regional 'water neighbourhood' to show that Western, rationalist conceptualisations of state and interstate relations fall short of explaining the different realities of transboundary water relations around the world.

KEYWORDS: Hydropolitics, water management, Central Asia, constructivism, regional identity