Theorising the Political Economy of Dams: Towards a Research Agenda

Abstract

The politics of dams has been analysed from a range of disciplinary perspectivesincluding comparative politics, international relations, political economy and political ecologyand at varying levelsinternational, national and local. This paper provides a critical review of this literature, highlighting key research themes and gaps in current analysis as a means of developing a broad framework and research agenda for the FutureDAMS project. This framework emphasises the importance of integrating material and ideational drivers of dams across multiple levels of analysis. Much valuable work has been done on the international politics of dams and the micro-politics of displacement and resistance to dam construction. However, a comparatively neglected area of studyparticularly where the recent dam boom in developing countries is concernedis to link these transnational and micro-political processes to national-level decision making. To this end, the paper proposes a central concern with such national-level processes, including process tracing decision making, the distributional politics of energy, the development of bureaucratic and technical capacity to carry out dam projects and the companies contracted to build, assess and design dams.

Exploring friendship in hydropolitics: The case of the friendship dam on the Asi/Orontes river

“…In a broad sense, hydropolitics refers to the transnational interactions among state and non‐state actors regarding the management and perception of shared water resources (Meissner, 2005; Rai et al, 2017; Warner et al, 2017; see the Geneva Water Hub, 2021 for an overview of definitions). Researchers have found numerous contextual variables that influence hydropolitical relations in transboundary contexts (e.g., De Stefano et al, 2017; Lavers & Dye, 2019; Xie & Jia, 2017). These variables include water quality and quantity, climate change impacts, riparian relationships (including historical relationships), upstream‐downstream relations, geographical dynamics, the design of transboundary treaties and agreements, domestic water policies, among others.…”

“…Researchers have found numerous contextual variables that influence hydropolitical relations in transboundary contexts (e.g., De Stefano et al, 2017;Lavers & Dye, 2019;Xie & Jia, 2017). These variables include water quality and quantity, climate change impacts, riparian relationships (including historical relationships), upstream-downstream relations, geographical dynamics, the design of transboundary treaties and agreements, domestic water policies, among others.…”

Powering development: the political economy of electricity generation in the EPRDF’s Ethiopia

“…Our analytical framework focuses on the interplay of material interests and the ideological commitments of actors, and the power relations between them. Drawing on the framework set out for the broader research programme (Lavers & Dye, 2019) of which this paper is part, the analysis highlights relations between two main sets of actors. The first concerns relations within the political elite.…”

“…2 Examples abound, particularly in relation to dam building, of politically and economically powerful agencies dominated by a particular scientific or engineering worldview pursuing projects to control nature and re-engineer society as 'an end in itself, rather than a means to an end' (Molle et al, 2009, p 328;Reisner, 1993;Scott, 1998). As such, effective planning in the electricity sector requires a delicate balance of relations, with politicians supporting the technocracy and prioritising technical expertise in decision making, while maintaining control of strategic vision and oversight of the sector (Lavers & Dye, 2019). This framework is applied using a process-tracing methodology (George & Bennett, 2004;Bennett & Checkel, 2014), that is used to reconstruct the decision-making process on electricity-generation planning over the period of rule by the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) .…”

From Power to Legitimacy—Explaining Historical and Contemporary Water Conflict at Yesa Reservoir (Spain) and Gross Reservoir (USA) Using Path Dependency

“…Controversy surrounding the construction of new dams and reservoirs is almost ubiquitous, culminating at the end of the 20th century in multilateral efforts to improve their planning and construction [1], though many contentious issues remain in the 21st century "dam resurgence era" [2,3]. However, it is not only the development of new infrastructure that can become embroiled in conflict, as this paper draws attention to, but also the reoperation of existing dams and reservoirs.…”