The hydropolitical Cold War: The Indus Waters Treaty and state formation in Pakistan

Akhter, Majed

doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.12.002

Cited by 38 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…But they do not stress the dialectic of depoliticisation and repoliticisation in the operations of hydrocracies. And although they are at pains to sufficiently highlight the diffusion of the hydraulic mission around the world, more focused theorisation of the complex spatiality of technocrat‐led depoliticisation is still needed – especially in terms of the politics of scale (Akhter ; Harris and Alatout ; Swyngedouw ). The dynamic of depoliticisation and repoliticisation acts in differentiated but connected ways across scales because of the differing balance of political forces at these scales.…”

Section: Theoretical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He suggested the involvement of an institution with expertise at its disposal, like the World Bank (or the Bank), to mediate the dispute on purely ‘technical’ grounds. Thus from the beginning of the international dispute, hydrocrats explicitly called for the depoliticisation of the issue by framing the problem as one of a lack of engineering expertise (Akhter ). Eugene Black, president of the Bank, agreed with Lilienthal.…”

Section: Inter‐state Water Conflict: Hydrocracy and The Politics Of Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Speaking specifically of WAPDA, which is remembered by some engineers as the vanguard of Pakistan's Cold War developmental state (cf. Akhter ), he said:

Those personnel who do not have to deal with the public have retained some professionalisation. In general, the structure of WAPDA is the same, but training of engineers has declined – today they learn only bureaucratic [i.e.…”

Section: Intra‐state Water Politics: Hydrocracy and The Politics Of Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Attention to scalar difference is a key methodological principle undergirding my analysis, as indeed it is for many water geographers (Akhter ; Harris and Alatout ; Mustafa ; Swyngedouw ). Geographers have examined the spatiality of water expertise, the shifting sites of authoritative knowledge production, and the role of regional political economy, in several contexts, including stream restoration (Lave ), the representation of watersheds and rivers (Cohen and Bakker ; Harris and Alatout ; Hwang ; Sneddon and Fox ; Swyngedouw ) and the global circulation of irrigation expertise (Akhter and Ormerod ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The paper thus contributes a scale‐sensitive theory of repoliticisation to the scholarly interrogation of the historical and ongoing imbrications of state formation, expert authority and water resources (Harris and Alatout ; Moore 2013; Sneddon ). In particular, the arguments in this paper speak to research that examines how processes of state formation enrol natural resources into the consolidation of territory (Perramond ; Wainwright and Robertson ) and articulate a modernising nationalist ideology (Akhter ; Camprubí ; Kaika ; Klingensmith ; Menga ; Swyngedouw ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Desiring the data state in the Indus Basin

Akhter

2016

Trans Inst British Geog

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The distribution of water between co‐riparian regions in the Indus Basin has been an extremely contentious issue since at least the early 20th century. The reliability of water measurements, in particular, has caused much controversy at multiple scales. This hydropolitical tension has catalysed a key social group – the hydraulic bureaucracy or ‘hydrocracy’ – to enact strategies of depoliticisation. These strategies aim to suppress political contest by calling on external expertise and/or technology to assure the objectivity of water measurement data. This paper draws on archival data and interviews with water engineers to argue that technocratic depoliticisation operates in distinct but related ways at different scales. Further, I argue that to analyse the technocratic desire for a data state – a state that governs primarily or exclusively by number and calculation – a multi‐scalar theoretical framework that connects the politics of technocracy, territory and nationalism is needed. The paper develops such a framework by situating hydrocrats and their strategies in the broader context of state formation. This framework is offered as a way for critical scholars of resources, development and expertise to engage with depoliticisation and repoliticisation of resource governance as complex geographic processes.

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Section: Theoretical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inter‐state Water Conflict: Hydrocracy and The Politics Of Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Speaking specifically of WAPDA, which is remembered by some engineers as the vanguard of Pakistan's Cold War developmental state (cf. Akhter ), he said:

Section: Intra‐state Water Politics: Hydrocracy and The Politics Of Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Desiring the data state in the Indus Basin

Akhter

2016

Trans Inst British Geog

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Liquid futures: Water management systems and anticipated environments

Randle

Barnes

2018

WIREs Water

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Climate change and its impact on hydrological dynamics have become key topics of concern among water managers and policy makers in many parts of the world. Yet while practitioners often frame adaptation to a climate‐changed future as a novel issue, ideas about future environments have long influenced systems of water management. Reviewing ethnographic and historical accounts of waterscapes across the globe, this article examines the relationship between imagined environmental futures and the policies, practices, infrastructures of water management and legal frameworks. We show, first, how conflicting ideas about environmental stasis and perturbation have been built into water networks across space and time. In some cases, notions of radical landscape change have underpinned these systems, as in programs dedicated to land “reclamation” or interbasin water transfer schemes. In other contexts, water systems have developed based on visions of long‐term sociohydrological stability. Second, we highlight how contrasting notions of human capacity to change environmental outcomes have played into water management systems. In some cases, there has been an assumption of the potential for and desirability of full human control; in others, there has been more recognition of the limits of such mastery. Exploring the wide range of environmental imaginaries mobilized through water management, we contextualize contemporary efforts to build resilient, “climate proof” waterscapes. WIREs Water 2018, 5:e1274. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1274 This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented Science of Water > Water Quality

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Transboundary Water Management of the Indus River: A Repetitive Cycle

Williams

2019

Sustainable Development of Water and Environment

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The hydropolitical Cold War: The Indus Waters Treaty and state formation in Pakistan

Cited by 38 publications

References 31 publications

Desiring the data state in the Indus Basin

Desiring the data state in the Indus Basin

Liquid futures: Water management systems and anticipated environments

Transboundary Water Management of the Indus River: A Repetitive Cycle

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