Sharing water in the international Tagus River basin: a geopolitical approach to explaining water governance issues in Spain

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of different policies, political strategies and spatial conflicts on water issues in 21st century Spain, with an illustrating example about the management of the Tagus River. This international river basin, which is shared between Spain and Portugal, must meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, as all the river basins in the European Union do. The power granted to Spanish regions, their asymmetric economic development patterns, and the worsening droughts associated with climate change have created a water conflict. This paper shows, through the French geopolitical approach, how water policy in Spain has evolved these last decades and how water scarcity has become a geopolitical representation in certain territories. This study focuses on the territorial observation of power rivalries at different scales, providing new and complementary elements that can help understand water governance challenges in Spain in the years to come.