Hydropolis: Reinterpreting the polis in water politics |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR), Coventry University, IV5, Innovation Village, Cheetah Road, Coventry, CV1 2TL, UK;2. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK;3. Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Campus, 1984 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada;4. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK;5. School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK;6. Department of Politics and International Studies, Social Sciences Building, The University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK;1. Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway;2. Peace Research Institute Oslo, Norway;3. Oxford University, UK;4. University of Glasgow, UK;5. Durham University, UK |
| |
| Abstract: | The construction of a large dam is often a contested and controversial matter. Delicate aspects related to the dam construction business such as the resettlement of peoples, environmental impact and financial costs, can trigger popular discontent and hinder the realisation of a particular project. By advancing the notion of the hydropolis, a reinterpretation of Hannah Arendt (1958) definition of the polis, this paper will explore how ruling elites can manipulate the public opinion to politically construct a large dam as a foreign policy matter. This, it will be argued, serves to conceal the negative consequences of a dam so that issues related to its social and environmental impact are removed from the national political debate. Specifically, the case of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Ethiopia will be used to illustrate how a large dam can become a geopolitical object grounded on the friend/enemy distinction, in the context of the longstanding geopolitical tensions in the Nile River Basin. |
| |
| Keywords: | Critical geopolitics Transboundary waters Hannah Arendt Ethiopia Egypt Polis |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
