The Jordan Valley is a region where water resources are both scarce and disputed. Over a long period of time, the shared water resources in the region have constituted a source of conflict. Meanwhile, these shared resources and the challenges connected to them can also function as a basis for mutual understanding and trust-building, potentially fostering cooperation and sustainable peacebuilding. This thesis explores the potential of different kinds of cooperation efforts on shared water resources promoting such a development, by investigating the relationship between bottom-up local transboundary water cooperation efforts and top-down transboundary cooperation on a national level. The research question, “What direct and likely indirect impacts has the Good Water Neighbours programme had on the adherence to the Article 6 of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty from 1994?”, is examined through a single case study, in which a Multi-Track Water Diplomacy Framework (MTWD) analysis is conducted in order to map and understand key factors affecting water cooperation in the specific transboundary water context in which the Good Water Neighbours programme operates. The indirect impacts are examined through adding an intermediate variable, namely national transboundary water cooperation efforts between Israel and Jordan, operationalised through the regional NGO master plan for sustainable development in the Jordan Valley (released in 2015).  The study finds support for the hypothesis that cooperation on the local-international level will lead to trust-building and increased public pressure, creating incentives for national-international cooperation, and thereby increased adherence to the peace treaty. It can however neither reject nor confirm the hypothesis that local-international cooperation will lead to better designed projects, increased acceptance and accountability, in turn increasing the adherence to the peace treaty. The study further concludes that national-international cooperation depends on a sensitive interplay between economy and politics, and that successful transboundary water cooperation requires both bottom-up and top-down engagement.

Bangladesh and India share 54 transboundary rivers. Despite that, the transboundary water management between these two countries is heavily concentrated on the Ganges river basin, in which, mode of cooperation is still based on physical sharing of water. The study is developed on the argument that Bangladesh and India need a shift of focus in their current mode of transboundary water management from physical sharing of water to sharing of benefits derived from the use (and non-use) water in order to foster transboundary water cooperation in the Ganges river basin. Based on a single-case study, the research work aims to explore the scope of benefit-sharing in the transboundary water cooperation in the Ganges river basin and how benefit-sharing can be facilitated between these two countries. The findings show that the water negotiation in the Ganges basin would become much more complicated in the future, primarily due to the growing gap between the demand and the availability of water. The adverse impact of climate change will further deteriorate the situation. Besides, the changing nature of India’s domestic politics and the growing internal conflict between its provincial states will weaken the Indian central government’s authority to manage transboundary water resources jointly. Therefore, in the future, Bangladesh and India would find it difficult to elicit a positive-sum outcome from any water negotiation in Ganges river if they still focus on the volumetric allocation of water. The study suggests that inland navigation and water transit, multipurpose storage dam projects and joint management of the Sundarbans can be the potential areas for benefit-sharing in the Ganges basin. The study stresses the importance of shifting the policy outlook and developing institutional arrangements between Bangladesh and India to introduce and facilitate benefit-sharing in the Ganges river basin that will help to share benefits equitably, hence foster cooperation.

Transboundary water treaties are established to prevent disputes over shared rivers between states. Nevertheless, empirical studies indicate that international organizations manage to bring cooperation between states in some cases and fail in others. This research explains why the efforts of international organizations to promote water cooperation sometimes succeed or sometimes fail and which factors contribute to their varying levels of success in different cases? International organizations are more likely to achieve cooperation between states with strong characters (less change in power dynamics) and share mutual benefits than weaker states (frequent shift in power dynamics) and have less shared benefits. I will examine how shared benefits and the character of the state can help international originations achieve cooperation or conflict that can be influenced by power asymmetry or by creating an imbalance/balance of power (causal mechanisms). Thus, weak riparian countries are less likely to achieve cooperation, increasing the probability of conflict. The hypothesis is tested on the Nile River Basin and the Indus River Basin, using a comparative analysis. The findings indicate an important relationship between the state’s characters, shared benefits, and the role of international organizations in bringing cooperation and preventing conflict between riparian states.