Cooperation and Conflict over Transboundary Water Disputes: The Nile River Dispute Between Egypt and Ethiopia

• Main Authors: HUANG, YEN-LING, 黃嬿凌
• Other Authors: CHEN, WEI-FANG
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/75h7kn

碩士 === 東海大學 === 政治學系 === 107 === Being a basic living condition for human beings, water resources are not only the basis of human civilization, but are also related to national security and economy development. Due to different climate or geographic conditions, the distribution of water resources is usually unevenly among states. Therefore, when states have disputes over the utility of transboundary waters, it may result in conflicts. If we review the history of international relations, it is not unusual to see conflicts happened when there was transboundary water dispute. The Nile River, the most important river located in eastern and northern Africa, mainly starts from Ethiopia and ends in Egypt. In April 2011, Ethiopia constructed the “Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam” in order to improve irrigation and generating electricity. However, because of locating at the downstream of the Nile River, the Dam would inevitably challenge Egypt’s historical rights and interests and therefore Egypt was strongly against this plan. In order to compete privileged positions, both countries employed internal and external resources to gain advantages. As a result, this dispute has intensified the Egypt-Ethiopia relations Concerning water resources of being irreplaceable for human survival, the cooperation among states over transboundary waters is definitely necessary. Accordingly, this thesis reviews the water dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Nile River and analyses the factors behind their confronting positions. In order to understand whether is possible to encourage cooperation among countries over transboundary water disputes, this thesis also discussed and evaluated the roles of regional and international actors in the Nile River dispute.