Negotiating International Water Rights : Natural Resource Conflict in Turkey, Syria and Iraq

Transboundary watercourses account for an estimated 60 percent of global freshwater flow and support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Yet the indeterminate status of water rights in many international watercourses presents a problem and many attempts to resolve water rights issuess have failed. Knowing how and where negotiations fail is essential if successful resolution is to be achieved. Muserref Yetim’s important book seeks to illustrate a means to the peaceful resolution of natural resource based conflicts. Through a detailed study of the Tigris-Euphrates water conflict, involving Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, countries of vital security interest to the world at large. The author also clarifies the collective action dilemmas confronting Middle Eastern watercourses and reveals the bargaining bottlenecks where negotiations fail. She develops an original framework that explains bargaining failures and proposes conditions for creating a new property rights regime among watercourse states. This would offer a route to governing their shared water resources in ways that are politically, economically, and environmentally sound. In almost all water scarce regions, international water resources are subject to intense unilateral exploitation in a highly competitive fashion. Then, as demand for freshwater continues to increase, through increasing urbanization and the continuing development of societies, so the issue of how such shared water resources can best be governed is becoming vitally important. Negotiating International Water Rights offers both a timely contribution to a matter of international concern and important insights into a resource conflict in countries of vital security interest to the world at large. List of Tables and Figures viii Acknowledgements ix This book is thep roduct of many years' work.A st he adageg oes, it takesa villaget or aise ac hild,a nd Ic ould noth avew ritten this withoutt he many people around me whohavehelpedtoraise this from arough idea to thebookin hand.Ihave incurred as ubstantial debt to an umberofpeopleinthe process andIcannot thinkofabetter placethanthisfirstbooktothank my teachers, colleagues,friends,and family dispersedacrosstwo continents.Among them is GunK ut,w ho first interested me in thet opic. My dissertation co-chairs, ClementM.Henry andR.Harrison Wagner,and committee members, BrianE. Roberts, Gary P. Freeman, andSimon Hug, have my sincerestgratitude as the research forthisp roject begana sm yPhD thesis. Iwould liketoe xpress my deep appreciation forthe supportprovidedfirst by theGovernmentDepartmentatthe University of TexasatAustin, andlater at NewY orkU niversity, by theD epartmento fP olitics, theI nternational RelationsP rogram,t he HagopK evorkian Center,a nd theH umanities Initiative.For theireditorial guidance Ithank my editorsDavid Stonestreetand DavidCampbellatI.B.Tauris.Iam also grateful to theanonymous readersfor theirc omments. RohanBoltandeservest hanksfor preparing theindex.Iam grateful as well to ShinasiRamaand MichaelJ.W illiams, thepastand present directorso ft he InternationalR elations Program, ando ur administratorT ina Lamf or theirs upport andg oodc heer over they ears. Ia m, however,m ost indebted to my parents who understood thev alue of educationf or attaining self-fulfillment andi ndependencea nd who against many odds raised their threedaughterstopursuehighereducation andtheir ownprofessions. Fatmaand AhmetY etim instilled in us thecore values of diligence andw hatitmeanst ob efamily.Iam ever thankful for my sisters, Cigdem andFunda,for beingmyrefugeand buttress, no matter theo ceans betweenI stanbul andN ew York that too often separate us. In America, Ihavebeen fortunate to findstill more family.How to thank Peterv an Alfen,m yb est friend, colleague andh usband,Is implyd on ot know:h er eade very word countlesst imes ando fferedm atchless commentary andm oral support at critical junctures. While this book is dedicated to all my family in theN ew World andt he Oldf or their unfailingl ove, support, andu nderstanding,i ti sd edicated especially to Alara, who broughtt he greatest joy to my life foury ears agot oday. "Transboundary watercourses account for an estimated 60 per cent of global freshwater flow and support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Yet the indeterminate status of water rights in many international watercourses presents a problem and many attempts to resolve water rights issue have failed. Knowing how and where negotiations fail is essential if successful resolution is to be achieved. Muserref Yetim's important book seeks to illustrate a means to the peaceful resolution of natural resource based conflicts. Through a detailed study of the Tigris-Euphrates water conflict, involving Turkey, Syria and Iraq, countries of vital security interest to the world at large, the author clarifies the collective action dilemmas confronting Middle Eastern watercourses and reveals the bargaining bottlenecks where negotiations fail. She develops an original framework that explains bargaining failures and proposes conditions for creating a new property rights regime among watercourse states that offers a route to governing their shared water resources in ways that are politically, economically and environmentally sound. In almost all water scarce regions, international water resources are subject to intense unilateral exploitation in a highly competitive fashion. And as demand for freshwater continues to increase, through increasing urbanization and the continuing development of societies, so the issue of how such shared water resources can best be governed is becoming vitally important. Negotiating International Water Rights offers both a timely contribution to a matter of international concern and important insights into resource conflict in countries of vital security interest to the world at large."--Bloomsbury Publishing Front cover Author biography Endorsements Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Part I Theoretical Foundations 1. The Nature of the Problem 2. Realist Perspectives 3. Liberal Perspectives 4. A Bargaining Framework for International Water Rights Part II Case Study 5. Bargaining for Water Rights in the Euphrates and Tigris Watercourse Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index