Abstract
The Orontes River Basin is among the least researched transboundary water basins in the Middle East. The few studies on the Orontes have two main theoretical and empirical shortcomings. First, there is a lack of critical hydropolitics studies on this river. Second, those studies focus on either the Turkish–Syrian or Lebanese–Syria relations rather than analysing the case in a holistic way. Gathering both primary (international agreements, government documents, political statements and media outlets) and secondary sources, this paper seeks to answer how could Syria, as the basin hydro-hegemon, impose its control on the basin? This study argues that the lack of trilateral initiatives, which is also reflected in academic studies, is primarily due to asymmetrical power dynamics. Accordingly, Syria played a dual-game by excluding each riparian, Turkey and Lebanon, and it dealt with the issue at the bilateral interaction. Syria has used its political influence to maintain water control vis-à-vis Lebanon, while it has used non-cooperation with Turkey to exclude Turkey from decision-making processes. The paper also argues that the historical background and the political context have strongly informed Syria’s water policy. Finally, given the recent regional political developments, the paper finds that Syria’s power grip on the Orontes Basin slowly fades away because of the changes in the broader political context.
Highlights
The extensive literature on hydropolitics in the Middle East has focused on the Jordan River and on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, overlooking the hydropolitics of the Orontes River.1 Concerning the Orontes River— known as the Asi Nehri in Turkish and Nahr el-Assi in Arabic2—most scholars have investigated relations between Syria and Turkey (Kibaroglu and Sumer 2016; Maden 2011; Scheumann et al 2011; Scheumann and Shamaly 2016), rather than considering both Lebanon–Syria and Syria–Turkey relations
This paper argues that the empirical evidence derived from hydropolitical interactions among Lebanon, Syria and Turkey suggests that the historical and political context strongly influences riparian states’ transboundary water interactions on the Orontes Basin
In order to understand the hydropolitical relations on the Orontes Basin, it is necessary to contextualise them in broader political relations
Summary
The extensive literature on hydropolitics in the Middle East has focused on the Jordan River and on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (among others, Lowi 1995; Jägerskog 2003a, b; Kibaroglu 2002; Schultz 1995), overlooking the hydropolitics of the Orontes River. Concerning the Orontes River— known as the Asi Nehri in Turkish and Nahr el-Assi in Arabic2—most scholars have investigated relations between Syria and Turkey (Kibaroglu and Sumer 2016; Maden 2011; Scheumann et al 2011; Scheumann and Shamaly 2016), rather than considering both Lebanon–Syria and Syria–Turkey relations. Wessels (2016) underlines the necessity of considering the role of identities, beliefs, and perceptions of the other, combining ideational power analyses with anthropological methodologies which make local perceptions of individuals central Another criticism is that few studies have focussed on how the historical and political contexts influence the outcome in transboundary water interactions. The recent study conducted by Hussein and Grandi (2017) looks at the relationship between power and broader political contexts Building on these studies, this paper argues that the empirical evidence derived from hydropolitical interactions among Lebanon, Syria and Turkey suggests that the historical and political context strongly influences riparian states’ transboundary water interactions on the Orontes Basin. In a recent article of Warner et al (2017: 1), they revise the body of the literature that has built on and constructively criticised the FHH in the past 10 years, showing, in particular, “how thinking on the theorization and analysis of hydro-hegemony has moved beyond the state-centricity, the tendency to see hegemony as solely negative, and the conceptually hegemonic potential of hydro-hegemony itself”
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