Major attempts to control the natural environment characterized government ‘developmental' activity in twentieth-century Sind. This thesis argues that the construction of three barrage dams across the River Indus, along with a network of irrigation canals, enacted human control over nature as a political project. The Raj and its successor state in Sind, Pakistan, thereby claimed legitimacy through their capacity to benefit humans by re-modelling the landscape. These claims depended on an implied narrative of material progress, which irrigation development was expected to bring about, in a province considered technologically and socially backward. In allocating land that was newly made available for cultivation, government officials found an unprecedented opportunity to also re-shape agrarian society. As well as providing the means by which ‘ideal types' of cultivator could be encouraged to proliferate, the development of Sind's irrigation system was based on concepts of modernization that promoted increasing state intervention in agrarian life to render a ‘disordered' society more easily governable. This trend was constrained, however, by successive administrations' need to balance the lure of radical modernization against the powerful claims on new land of local magnates. The colonial belief in the agricultural, economic, and social benefits of large-scale irrigation projects was transplanted into the post-colonial state. The construction of irrigation works, the colonization of land, and their political implications before and after Independence are therefore analyzed, in order to demonstrate how and why the logic of large infrastructure schemes remained consistent. At the same time, differences in how successive administrations framed and enacted barrage projects are shown to have depended on contemporary circumstances. In the process, the thesis sheds new light on the tensions between and within the central and provincial governments, demonstrating the contested nature of concepts of Imperial governance, nation-building, and material progress.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o conflito diplomático ocorrido entre Brasil e Paraguai nos anos de 2008 e 2009, entendendo-o como um evento que contesta a hidrohegemonia brasileira. As bases teóricas desta pesquisa são conceitos e teorias da geografia política com ênfase na teoria da hidropolítica e no conceito de hidro-hegemonia. A metodologia está baseada em pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e entrevistas. Sob a perspectiva da hidropolítica o conflito diplomático analisado é um evento que compõe o processo de disputa pelo domínio dos recursos hídricos transfronteiriços do rio Paraná. Contextualizamos a origem da Itaipu Binacional no processo de disputa entre Brasil e Paraguai pelo domínio desses recursos hídricos transfronteiriços como uma solução interdependente para problemas interdependentes entre Estados vizinhos. Até a ratificação do Tratado de Itaipu a hidro-hegemonia brasileira estava consolidada por meio do controle físico do fluxo hídrico da bacia do Alto Paraná. Após a ratificação desse tratado o Brasil consolida o controle normativo do fluxo hídrico, posto que as bases deste Tratado são as assimetrias existentes entre os Estados. O conflito ocorrido entre 2008 e 2009 buscou reorientar a relação bilateral, com a contestação do exercício do poder material para a superação das divergências na Itaipu Binacional. Isto foi possível por meio do fortalecimento do poder ideacional paraguaio e o consequente fortalecimento do seu poder de negociação. / This work aims to analyze the diplomatic conflict occurred between Brazil and Paraguay in 2008 and 2009, understanding it as an event that challenges the Brazilian hydro-hegemony. The theoretical bases of this research are concepts and theories of political geography with an emphasis on Hydropolitics theory and hydro-hegemony concept. The methodology is based on bibliographical research, documents and interviews. From the perspective of the Hydropolitics this diplomatic conflict is an event that integrates the dispute process to dominate the transboundary water resources of the Parana River. The origin of Itaipu Binacional is contextualized in the process of dispute between Brazil and Paraguay for dominance of these transboundary water resources as an interdependent solution to interdependent problems between neighboring states. Until the ratification of the Itaipu Treaty Brazilian hydro-hegemony was consolidated through physical control of the water flow in the Upper Paraná basin. After the ratification of this treaty Brazil consolidates the regulatory control of the water flow, since the basis of this Treaty are the existing asymmetries between the states. The conflict occurred between 2008 and 2009 sought to reorient the bilateral relationship with the challenge of the exercise of the material power to overcome the divergences in Itaipu. This was possible through the strengthening of the Paraguayan ideational power and the consequent strengthening of their bargaining power.

Submitted by Isaac Francisco de Souza Dias (isaac.souzadias@ufpe.br) on 2016-03-02T17:49:06Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO Julio César Félix da Silva.pdf: 2836680 bytes, checksum: 700616f16824cf18494442d5aba43fc4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-02T17:49:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO Julio César Félix da Silva.pdf: 2836680 bytes, checksum: 700616f16824cf18494442d5aba43fc4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-27 / CNPQ / A bacia hidrográfica é uma unidade regional de planejamento, cujo olhar está centrado na sua totalidade territorial, já que possui um caráter interdependente do ponto de vista hidrológico, ou seja, as intervenções setoriais podem se refletir na quantidade e/ou qualidade das suas águas em trechos subsequentes. Quando trata-se de águas transfronteiriças, intervenções arbitrárias podem resultar em conflitos, na medida em que determinadas ações locais em um território compromete as águas em outras unidades territoriais. Outrossim, a interdependência hidrológica também precisa ser considerada quando da intervenção para conter a problemática sócio-ambiental de uma bacia hidrográfica, neste caso, é necessário que haja cooperação entre todas as unidades territoriais que partilham suas águas. Em consonância com o planejamento territorial da bacia hidrográfica assenta-se a hidropolítica, pela sua capacidade de abarcar as unidades territoriais (municípios, estados e/ou países) que compartilham suas águas. A hidropolítica é uma gestão compartilhada de águas superficiais ou subterrâneas tranfronteiriças, visando à equidade no seu uso entre os territórios onde estão distribuídas, para evitar a primazia de alguns e o comprometimento da quantidade e qualidade da água em outros. É nesse contexto que este trabalho visa a analisar a hidropolítica da bacia do rio Una a partir do estudo das margens fluviais na cidade de São Bento do Una – PE, visando à identificação e compreensão dos desafios da gestão das águas e as tendências da problemática. Sobre a hidropolítica da bacia do rio Una, constatou-se que vem ocorrendo de forma fragmentada e precária, devido à falta de cooperação e ações dos municípios, mas também em virtude da estrutura da dominialidade do rio, que não atribui responsabilidade consistente as municipalidades. Soma-se a isso, a pendência da APAC e do COBH-Una na realização do processo, e o fato do Estatuto não abrir espaço para todos os municípios inseridos na bacia hidrográfica do rio Una. No plano empírico, foi constatado a partir da caracterização das margens fluviais do rio Una na cidade de São Bento do Una, que os problemas sócio-ambientais decorrem da ineficácia do poder público em disciplinar as ocupações urbanas irregulares frente aos processos sociais que segregam classes espacialmente, da ausência de esgotamento sanitário, implicando o despejo de efluentes domésticos que, conforme análise de relatórios da CPRH, constitui a principal fonte poluidora. Esse processo de expansão das cidades no sentido das margens fluviais, acompanhado do aumento da poluição, agudiza a qualidade de vida dos citadinos, situação que configura-se como uma forte tendência na realidade da bacia do rio Una. / The watershed is a regional planning unit, whose gaze is focused on its territorial entirety, since it has an interdependent character of the hydrological point of view, ie, sectoral interventions can be reflected in the quantity and / or quality of water in subsequent sections. When it is transboundary waters, arbitrary interventions can result in conflicts, to the extent that certain local actions in a territory commits the waters in other units. Moreover, the hydrological interdependence must also be considered when intervention to contain the social and environmental problems of a watershed, in this case, there must be cooperation between all territorial units which share its waters. In line with the territorial planning of the basin sits the Hydropolitics, for its ability to cover the territorial units (municipalities, states and / or countries) that share its waters. The Hydropolitics is a shared management of surface water or groundwater tranfronteiriças, aimed at equity in its use among the territories where they are distributed to avoid the primacy of some and the impairment of water quantity and quality in others. In this context, this work aims to analyze the Hydropolitics river basin Una from the study of river banks in the city of São Bento - PE, aiming at identifying and understanding of water management challenges and trends of the problem. About Hydropolitics the river Una basin, it was found that has taken place in a fragmented and precarious due to lack of cooperation and actions of the municipalities, but also because of the structure of the river dominion, which does not assign responsibility consistent municipalities. Added to this, the pending APAC and COBH-Una in carrying out the process, and the fact that the laws do not make room for all cities within the basin of the river Una. Empirically, it was found from the characterization of river banks of the river Una in São Bento, the social and environmental problems resulting from the ineffectiveness of the government to discipline the irregular urban occupations compared to the social processes that segregate classes spatially , the lack of sanitation, involving the dumping of domestic effluents, as the CPRH reports analysis, is the main pollution source. This process of expansion of cities towards the river bank, accompanied by increased pollution, sharpens the quality of life of city dwellers, a situation that is configured as a strong trend in the reality of the Una river basin.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o conflito diplomático ocorrido entre Brasil e Paraguai nos anos de 2008 e 2009, entendendo-o como um evento que contesta a hidrohegemonia brasileira. As bases teóricas desta pesquisa são conceitos e teorias da geografia política com ênfase na teoria da hidropolítica e no conceito de hidro-hegemonia. A metodologia está baseada em pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e entrevistas. Sob a perspectiva da hidropolítica o conflito diplomático analisado é um evento que compõe o processo de disputa pelo domínio dos recursos hídricos transfronteiriços do rio Paraná. Contextualizamos a origem da Itaipu Binacional no processo de disputa entre Brasil e Paraguai pelo domínio desses recursos hídricos transfronteiriços como uma solução interdependente para problemas interdependentes entre Estados vizinhos. Até a ratificação do Tratado de Itaipu a hidro-hegemonia brasileira estava consolidada por meio do controle físico do fluxo hídrico da bacia do Alto Paraná. Após a ratificação desse tratado o Brasil consolida o controle normativo do fluxo hídrico, posto que as bases deste Tratado são as assimetrias existentes entre os Estados. O conflito ocorrido entre 2008 e 2009 buscou reorientar a relação bilateral, com a contestação do exercício do poder material para a superação das divergências na Itaipu Binacional. Isto foi possível por meio do fortalecimento do poder ideacional paraguaio e o consequente fortalecimento do seu poder de negociação. / This work aims to analyze the diplomatic conflict occurred between Brazil and Paraguay in 2008 and 2009, understanding it as an event that challenges the Brazilian hydro-hegemony. The theoretical bases of this research are concepts and theories of political geography with an emphasis on Hydropolitics theory and hydro-hegemony concept. The methodology is based on bibliographical research, documents and interviews. From the perspective of the Hydropolitics this diplomatic conflict is an event that integrates the dispute process to dominate the transboundary water resources of the Parana River. The origin of Itaipu Binacional is contextualized in the process of dispute between Brazil and Paraguay for dominance of these transboundary water resources as an interdependent solution to interdependent problems between neighboring states. Until the ratification of the Itaipu Treaty Brazilian hydro-hegemony was consolidated through physical control of the water flow in the Upper Paraná basin. After the ratification of this treaty Brazil consolidates the regulatory control of the water flow, since the basis of this Treaty are the existing asymmetries between the states. The conflict occurred between 2008 and 2009 sought to reorient the bilateral relationship with the challenge of the exercise of the material power to overcome the divergences in Itaipu. This was possible through the strengthening of the Paraguayan ideational power and the consequent strengthening of their bargaining power.

Recognising water as a central relational location of the asymmetric Israel- Palestinian conflict, this study critically analyses the peacebuilding significance of Israeli, transboundary water and peace practitioner discourses. Anchored in a theoretically-constructed framework of hydropolitical peacebuilding, it discursively analyses the historical, officially-sanctioned, as well as academic and civil society water and peace relations of Israelis and Palestinians. It responds to the question: How are Israeli water and peace practitioners discursively practicing hydropolitical peacebuilding in the Middle East? In doing so, this study has drawn upon a methodology of interpretive practice, combining ethnography, foucauldian discourse analysis and narrative inquiry. This study discursively traces Israel's development into a hydrohegemonic state in the Jordan River Basin, from the late-19th century to 2011. Recognising conflict as a power-laden social system, it makes visible the construction, production and circulation of Israel's power in the basin. It examines key narrative elements invoked by Israel to justify its evolving asymmetric, hydrohegemonic relations. Leveraging the hydropolitical peacebuilding framework, itself constituted of equality, partnership, equity and shared ii sustainability, this study also examines the discursive practices of Israeli transboundary water and peace practitioners in relationship with Palestinians. In so doing, it makes visible their hydrohegemony, hydropolitical peacebuilding, and hydrohegemonic residues. This study's conclusions re-affirm earlier findings, notably that environmental and hydropolitical cooperation neither inherently nor necessarily constitute peacebuilding practice. This work also suggests that hydropolitical peacebuilding may discursively be recognised in water and peace practices that engage, critique, resist, desist from, and practice alternative relational formations to hydrohegemony in asymmetric conflicts.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-04-06T15:17:33Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) dissertacao completa.pdf: 3293296 bytes, checksum: 1b9f1d58eade773b52b46620efbffe60 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-06T15:17:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) dissertacao completa.pdf: 3293296 bytes, checksum: 1b9f1d58eade773b52b46620efbffe60 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-20 / CAPES / A água sempre foi um elemento natural de grande cobiça na sociedade. Por ser abundante na natureza, mas desigualmente distribuído sempre foi motivo de grandes conflitos de interesses. Este trabalho de mestrado tem como objetivo principal apresentar uma discussão sobre os conflitos ocasionados pela distribuição e uso da água tanto na esfera global quanto local, tendo como foco principal os problemas enfrentados pela sociedade, pelo poder público e pelas organizações da sociedade civil do destino, das águas da bacia hidrográfica do rio São Francisco. Nas regiões brasileiras, grande parte das cidades cresceu de forma exacerbada e desordenada, sem compatibilizar a dimensão do crescimento urbano com a dimensão ambiental, resultando na ocupação irregular das margens fluviais, ocasionado a poluição e degradação das águas dos rios. Esses aspectos, dos rios brasileiros, faz-nos refletir sobre a gestão das águas das bacias hidrográficas do país que corresponde à unidade territorial de planejamento, tangenciando para os territórios municipais que a constitui, dessa forma, a gestão precisa envolver o diálogo entre as unidades municipais que partilham suas águas, através da hidropolítica. Nessa perspectiva, o tema hidropolítica foi escolhido como sendo centralizador deste estudo pela busca de entender de que forma é realizada a distribuição e gestão das águas compartilhadas da bacia do São Francisco. Para definição do objeto de estudo optou-se pelos perímetros irrigados de Apolônio Sales e Icó Mandantes localizados no município de Petrolândia no submédio do rio São Francisco. A metodologia utilizada se aportou na aplicação de questionários semiestruturados, entrevistas e de observação, na análise empírica como ponte de investigação e da participação da sociedade, definido pelos moradores, gestores, agricultores e produtores rurais localizados no município de Petrolândia e que se utilizam diretamente da água para os diversos fins. Os resultados apontaram que desde a construção da Usina Hidrelétrica Luiz Gonzaga a água passou a ser um elemento de conflito nos perímetros irrigados, onde a hidropolítica, se apresenta fragmentada e precária, devido à falta de cooperação e ações dos municípios banhados pelo rio São Francisco. Foi verificado que a distribuição de água nos lotes irrigados ainda é precária e dessa forma existe um atrito entre a sociedade que recebe a água e entre a que distribui. Ficou evidente que na bacia do São Francisco existe uma crise hídrica que vai além dos fatores naturais onde a gestão da água ainda é feita de forma lenta demandando uma atenção especial na forma de como é realizado a distribuição e uso da água e sua inclusão como elemento primordial para a vida. / Water has always been a natural element of a great greed dispute in society. It is abundant in nature, but as poorly distributed, a matter of great conflicts of interest. This master dissertation aims to present a discussion about conflicts caused by the water use and distribution both at global and local levels, focusing mainly on the problems faced by society, government and society organizations regarding the waters of the São Francisco's river basin. In Brazilian regions, most cities grew in an exacerbated and disorderly manner without the match between scale of urban growth and the environmental dimension, resulting in irregular occupation of river banks, which causes pollution and degradation of river waters. These aspects of the Brazilian rivers, makes us reflect on the water management of river basins that corresponds to the planning's territorial unit, tangentially to the municipal territory that constitutes. Therefore, the management needs to involve dialogue between municipal units that share its waters through Hydropolitics. In this perspective, the theme Hydropolitics was chosen as centralizer of this study by the quest to understand how is carried out the distribution and management of shared waters of the São Francisco's basin. To defining object of study, the irrigated perimeters of Apollonius Sales and Ico Mandantes were chosen, located in the municipality of Petrolândia, in the São Francisco's river sub-middle part. The methodology used is the application of semi-structured questionnaires, interviews and field observation, thus the empirical analysis to bridge research and the participation of society, defined by the residents, managers, general farmers and farmers located in Petrolândia municipality that directly use water for various purposes. The results showed that since the construction of the hydroelectric plant Luiz Gonzaga water has become a source of conflict in the irrigated areas, where Hydropolitics appears fragmented and precarious due to the lack of cooperation and actions of municipalities bordering the San Francisco River. It was found that the distribution of water in irrigated plots is still poor and thus there is a friction between the people that receives water and the people which distributes. It was evident that in the San Francisco's basin there is a water crisis that goes beyond natural factors where water management is still done slowly, requiring special attention, as it carries out the distribution and use of water and its inclusion as an essential part of life.

Recognising water as a central relational location of the asymmetric Israel- Palestinian conflict, this study critically analyses the peacebuilding significance of Israeli, transboundary water and peace practitioner discourses. Anchored in a theoretically-constructed framework of hydropolitical peacebuilding, it discursively analyses the historical, officially-sanctioned, as well as academic and civil society water and peace relations of Israelis and Palestinians. It responds to the question: How are Israeli water and peace practitioners discursively practicing hydropolitical peacebuilding in the Middle East? In doing so, this study has drawn upon a methodology of interpretive practice, combining ethnography, foucauldian discourse analysis and narrative inquiry. This study discursively traces Israel¿s development into a hydrohegemonic state in the Jordan River Basin, from the late-19th century to 2011. Recognising conflict as a power-laden social system, it makes visible the construction, production and circulation of Israel¿s power in the basin. It examines key narrative elements invoked by Israel to justify its evolving asymmetric, hydrohegemonic relations. Leveraging the hydropolitical peacebuilding framework, itself constituted of equality, partnership, equity and shared ii sustainability, this study also examines the discursive practices of Israeli transboundary water and peace practitioners in relationship with Palestinians. In so doing, it makes visible their hydrohegemony, hydropolitical peacebuilding, and hydrohegemonic residues. This study¿s conclusions re-affirm earlier findings, notably that environmental and hydropolitical cooperation neither inherently nor necessarily constitute peacebuilding practice. This work also suggests that hydropolitical peacebuilding may discursively be recognised in water and peace practices that engage, critique, resist, desist from, and practice alternative relational formations to hydrohegemony in asymmetric conflicts. / British Council/Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Fonds québecois de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC).

This thesis argues that state-building in Sudan in the modern era cannot be understood without a multilevel analysis of the links between water, civilisation and power. More particularly, it focuses on the hydropolitical economy of the Al-Ingaz Revolution since its launch in 1989. I analyse the efforts by Sudan's military-Islamist leaders at material and immaterial transformation of society through visions of hydro-engineering civilisation. “Economic Salvation” -the rescue of Sudan’s economy through a “hydro-agricultural mission” that will create an ‘Islamic’ middle class- is central to this ideology. The hydro-agricultural mission is a revolutionary attempt at Islamist state-building through a hyper-ambitious Dam Programme and an Agricultural Revival in Sudan’s riverain core. It intends to entrench Al-Ingaz in power by delivering for those riverain constituencies and external partners on the Arabian Peninsula and in East Asia deemed critical to continued hegemony. This thesis is fundamentally about Islamist Sudan's hydropolitical economy, but makes broader contributions. First, it highlights how, far from being exceptional, the hydro-agricultural mission is deeply embedded in historical ways of thinking about water, civilisation and power in Sudan and the Nile Basin more broadly, echoing assumptions, policy prescriptions and logics of political control and high-modernist development that have been salient for almost 200 years. In the past, grand state-building projects, predicated on the dream of controlling the water to control the people, have been characterised by high levels of violence and developmental mirages in the desert. I show why, under military-Islamist rule, this experience is being repeated in Sudan. Second, this thesis is situated in wider debates in the early 21st century, with fears about resources crunches proliferating amidst rising global commodity prices and the impact of climate change. The idea that environmental scarcity, as an exogenous variable, is the main shaper of societies and their politics is enduring, but both theoretically and empirically misguided. Moreover, it has often been manipulated by elites in processes of power and wealth accumulation that reproduce the very societal and ecological problems they claim to be resolving. I argue that the links between water, civilisation and power in Sudan highlight not just the endogeneity of environmental scarcity to political-economic processes, but also the violent consequences of a modernist paradigm that is seen by ruling elites as both enlightened science and the route to hegemony while reproducing conflict at the local, national and regional level.

This research set out to develop a deeper theoretical component to the emerging discipline of hydropolitics by studying the political aspects of institutional developments in the water sector. The focal point was the four international river basins that are shared between South Africa and six of its neighbouring states. The study found that while there is a lot of evidence for the securitization of water resource management in South Africa’s international river basins, there are also a number of examples of regimes. The creation of these regimes was driven primarily by threat perceptions relating to state security, mostly during the period of apartheid and the Cold War. These regimes were mostly robust and served as a valuable instrument for the de-escalation of conflict, which was primarily of a high politics nature. Examples of both plus-sum and zero-sum outcomes have been isolated. Plus-sum outcomes arose when the non-hegemonic state chose to view the offer of a regime in terms of national self-interest with four examples of this condition. In all four cases the non-hegemonic state benefited from cooperation with South Africa. Zero-sum outcomes arose when the non-hegemonic state chose to view the offer of a regime in terms of ideology with two examples of this condition. In both cases the non-hegemonic state did not benefit and was sidelined to the extent that they became marginalized and worse off than before. In all cases the hegemonic state benefited from the regime. The research consequently showed that a hydropolitical complex is emerging in Southern Africa, clustered around two international river basins, the Orange and Limpopo, which have been defined as pivotal basins. Both of these basins have reached the limit of their readily available water resources and future development is not possible on any great scale. Four of the most economically developed states in Southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa) are riparians on these two international river basins, and have been defined as pivotal states. Other less developed countries that share any international river basin with a pivotal state have been defined as an impacted state, because their own development aspirations have been capped through this association. Any international river basin that has at least one of the pivotal states in it has been defined an impacted basin. Finally, this research showed that regimes create a plus-sum outcome in closed international river basins because they reduce the levels of uncertainty and institutionalize the conflict potential. As such regimes are a useful instrument with which to regulate inter-state behavior, leading over time to the development of institutions consisting of rules and procedures. / Thesis (DPhil (International Politics))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

The inter-scalar interaction of norms is pervasive in African hydropolitics due to the nature of freshwater on the continent – shared, strategic and that which necessitates cooperation. However, with few exceptions, particular norms created at specific levels of scale have been researched in isolation of those existing at other levels. It is argued that this exclusionary approach endangers the harmonised and integrated development of international water law and governance, producing sub-optimal cooperative strategies. The notable contributions of Ken Conca and the Maryland School’s research on the contestation of norms occurring at different levels of scale, and Anthony Turton’s Hydropolitical Complex (HPC), will be examined through a Constructivist theoretical lens, in terms of their applicability to furthering an understanding of multi-level normative frameworks. Through the use of the Orange-Senqu River basin, and the Nile Equatorial Lakes sub-basin (NELSB) as case studies, it is argued that norm convergence is possible, and is occurring in both case studies analysed, although to varying degrees as a result of different causal factors and different biophysical, historical, socio-political and cultural contexts. This is demonstrated through an examination of regional dynamics and domestic political milieus. Notwithstanding their varying degrees of water demand, Orange-Senqu and NELSB riparians present fairly different political identities, each containing existing constellations of norms, which have affected the ways in which they have responded to the influence of external norms, how the norm is translated at the local level and to what extent it is incorporated into state policy. In so doing, the interface between international norms and regional/domestic norms will be explored in an attempt to understand which norms gain acceptance and why. It is therefore advocated that a multi-level interpretation of norm development in Africa’s hydropolitics is essential to an understanding of the interconnectedness of context, interests and identities. Each level of scale, from the international to the subnational, give meaning to how norms are translated and socialised, and how they in turn, transform contexts.