June 2013: The Global Water Partnership (GWP) published a discussion paper, titled ‘How “soft” power shapes transboundary water interaction,’ which develops a “hydro-hegemony” framework to examine transboundary water governance arrangements, using examples of different strategies employed by China and Egypt.

The authors, Jeroen Warner, Mark Zeitoun and Naho Miramuchi, note there have been frequent predictions of future water wars but emphasize that such wars have not materialized. They argue that this water war discourse focuses on “hard power,” such as coercion and violence, without paying adequate attention to “soft power,” co-optative, non-violent and persuasive tactics. They find that instruments of soft power, including emulating success and side payments, are more common in riparian State interactions than hard power.

They conclude a soft power perspective can shed light on cooperation and conflict in transboundary basins. They further stress that transboundary water negotiations and treaties can contribute “towards conflict management but not necessarily towards conflict resolution.”

The UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) founded the GWP in 1996 to promote integrated water resources management (IWRM). [Publication: How ‘Soft’ Power Shapes Transboundary Water Interaction]