Water research and nationalism in the post-truth era
Kevin G. Wheeler a and Hussam Hussein b
a Environmental Change Institute and Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;
b Department of Politics and International Relations and Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
ARTICLE HISTORY Received 3 May 2021; Accepted 24 September 2021
Introduction
Water has always been political in nature and competing narratives of water rights and equity are not new. The governance and management of water is frequently contested by stakeholders and opinions are echoed in the media and throughout civil society. However, something new is happening that deserves attention: the growing power of misinformation and its effect on the academe of water studies. Water research is influential in shaping policies. Academia has frequently been a platform for highlighting challenges related to water scarcity, water rights, distributional impacts and resulting inequities. It has also been a platform for assessing or challenging popularly held beliefs.
For example, over the past several decades, narratives of looming water wars in transboundary river basins have been espoused by politicians, mass media and textbooks. Academics have responded with extensive bodies of research into historical cooperation and conflict over water, arguing that cooperation is a more frequent outcome, and the notion of water wars is largely exaggerated. Research clearly demonstrates that one must look closely at localized circumstances and nuances before such causal claims can be made. Many academics are careful, however, not to dismiss entirely the potential for conflicts to be exacerbated by droughts and water shortages (especially at the subnational scale), noting that there is ‘ample evidence showing that water issues have led to intense political instability and that acute violence has occasionally been the result’ (Wolf, 2007, p. 245).
Although the water wars narrative lacks historical evidence, the reality of explosive population growth, the step-changes of technology in areas of mass communication and information systems (e.g., the influence of social media in shaping narratives), and the non-stationarity of climate impacts suggests that the past might not be a reliable indication of the future.
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Water research and nationalism in the post-truth era
Kevin G. Wheeler a and Hussam Hussein b
a Environmental Change Institute and Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;
b Department of Politics and International Relations and Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
ARTICLE HISTORY Received 3 May 2021; Accepted 24 September 2021
Introduction
Water has always been political in nature and competing narratives of water rights and equity are not new. The governance and management of water is frequently contested by stakeholders and opinions are echoed in the media and throughout civil society. However, something new is happening that deserves attention: the growing power of misinformation and its effect on the academe of water studies. Water research is influential in shaping policies. Academia has frequently been a platform for highlighting challenges related to water scarcity, water rights, distributional impacts and resulting inequities. It has also been a platform for assessing or challenging popularly held beliefs.
For example, over the past several decades, narratives of looming water wars in transboundary river basins have been espoused by politicians, mass media and textbooks. Academics have responded with extensive bodies of research into historical cooperation and conflict over water, arguing that cooperation is a more frequent outcome, and the notion of water wars is largely exaggerated. Research clearly demonstrates that one must look closely at localized circumstances and nuances before such causal claims can be made. Many academics are careful, however, not to dismiss entirely the potential for conflicts to be exacerbated by droughts and water shortages (especially at the subnational scale), noting that there is ‘ample evidence showing that water issues have led to intense political instability and that acute violence has occasionally been the result’ (Wolf, 2007, p. 245).
Although the water wars narrative lacks historical evidence, the reality of explosive population growth, the step-changes of technology in areas of mass communication and information systems (e.g., the influence of social media in shaping narratives), and the non-stationarity of climate impacts suggests that the past might not be a reliable indication of the future.
to read the full article please click on
/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Water%20research%20and%20nationalism%20in%20the%20post%20truth%20era.pdf
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