Conference on Transboundary Waters in IR (TWIR) - Programme

Mixing Water and International Relations Theory: Frameworks for Transboundary Water Analysis.
26–28th April 2021

TIME ZONE: CEST, BUDAPEST TIME

Online conference in MS Teams

Conference programme and book of abstracts (PDF)

Please, note that due to unforeseen circumstances there are some recent changes in the programme, which are underlined. Abstracts not appearing in the conference brochure are available through hyperlinks below.

Day I.
26th April 2021

14:00 – 14:15 Opening Remarks

• Kinga Szálkai (Head of the Organizing Team, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)
• Balázs Majtényi (Director of the Institute of Political and International Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

14:15 – 15:15 Keynote Panel: “Frameworks for Transboundary Water Analysis”

Moderator: András Szalai (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

• Kathryn Furlong (Université de Montréal, Canada): Hidden Theories, Troubled Waters: From IR and Political Ecology to Infrastructure and Debt
• Mary Durfee (Michigan Technological University, U.S.): Hegemonies in US–Canada Water Borders
• Filippo Menga (University of Bergamo, Italy): Hydro-Hegemony, Global Water Governance and the Emergence of Philantrocapitalism
• Aysegul Kibaroglu (MEF University, Turkey): Water Diplomacy Frameworks in the Euphrates–Tigris River Basin: A Theoretical Analysis

15:15 – 15:45 Break

15:45 – 17:00 Keynote Panel – Discussion: “Frameworks for Transboundary Water Analysis”

Moderator: András Szalai (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

15:45. András Szöllősi-Nagy (National University of Public Service, Hungary): Transboundary Water Resources: A Source of Potential Conflicts or a Source of Potential Cooperation?

17:00 – 17:30 Break

17:30 – 18:45 Dissemination Panel: “Ensuring Water Security in the Middle East: Policy Implications”

Moderator: Máté Szalai (Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary)
Authors of the EuroMeSco Joint Policy Study: Ensuring Water Security in the Middle East: Policy Implications

• Ali Oguz Dirioz (TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey)
• Giulia Giordano (ECCO, Italy)
• Shira Kronich (independent consultant)
• Liel Maghen (Center for Regional Initiatives, IPCRI, Israel)
• Tobias von Lossow (Clingendael Institute, the Netherlands)

Day II.
27th April 2021

14:00 – 15:15 Panel I. “Water Diplomacy”

Moderator: Kinga Szálkai (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

• Fatine Ezbakhe & Christian Bréthaut (Geneva Water Hub / UNESCO Chair on Hydropolitics, University of Geneva, Switzerland): Discourses in Hydropolitics: Why and How? A New Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Interplay between Transboundary Waters and Politics through Discourses Abstract
• Chukwuebuka Edum (University of Geneva, Switzerland): Regime Evolution and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes in the Nile River Basin: An Interdisciplinary Assessment of the Role of Law
• Viktor Glied & Péter Kacziba (University of Pécs, Hungary): Feasible Dream or Complete Failure? Water Diplomacy in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

15:15 – 15:45 Break

15:45 – 17:00 Panel II. “War, Peace, and Dams”

Moderator: Péter Stepper (National University of Public Service, Hungary)

• Atal Ahmadzai (University of Arizona, U.S.): Water Wars: A Political Myth or a Forthcoming Global Security Threat
• Sameh Al-Muqdadi (Green Charter GC., Germany): The Hydropolitical Cycle and International Relations: The Anarchic Nature of Water Conflict and the Way Forward
• Zoltán Vörös (University of Pécs, Hungary): Chinese Water Diplomacy in the Greater Mekong Subregion

17:00 – 17:30 Break

17:30 – 18:45 Panel III. “New Perspectives”

Moderator: Viktor Friedmann (Budapest Metropolitan University, Hungary)

• Najibullah Loodin (Oregon State University, U.S.): The Role of Islam in Water Resources Management: Could It Be Integrated into International Water Law Principles (IWLP) for the Islamic-Dominated States?
• Isabela Espindola & Maria Luisa Telarolli (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil): Global South Perspectives on International Relations Theory: New Frameworks for Transboundary Water Analysis?
• Rozemarijn ter Horst (Wageningen University, the Netherlands) & Jenniver Sehring (IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education, the Netherlands): Do We Need a Feminist Approach to Transboundary Water Governance? Abstract

Day III.
28th April 2021

14:00 – 15:15 Panel IV. “Knowledge and Discourses”

Moderator: Tamás Peragovics (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

• Kinga Szálkai (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary): Water is What States Make of It: Dams and Discourses
• Bota Sharipova (IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education, the Netherlands): Analyzing the Role of Trust and Epistemic Communities in the Aral Sea Basin: A Social Constructivist Approach
• Hojjat Mianabadi (Tarbiat Modares University, Iran) & Seyedeh Zahra Ghoreishi (University of Tehran, Iran): The Role of International Relations Paradigms in Analyzing Transboundary Water Security

15:15 – 15:45 Break

15:45 – 17:00 Panel V. “Nations and Communities”

Moderator: Áron Tábor (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

•  Ivana Vuchkova: The Tragedy of the Commons and Transboundary Waters in the Western Balkans
• Guillermina Elias (Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA), Argentina): Binational Governance of Transboundary Basins: Cooperation in the Shared Integrated Water Resources Management of the Binational Bermejo and Grande de Tarija River Basin, Argentina and Bolivia (1995–2019).
• Péter Marton (Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary): Tagging as Flagging: Banal and Not-Quite-Banal Nationalism in Discursive References to “Hungarian Carp”

17:00 – 17:30 Break

17:30 – 18:45 Panel VI. “Further Related Perspectives”

Moderator: John Szabó (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

• Róbert Balogh (Institute of History, Centre for the Humanities, Hungary): The Importance of the Carpathian Basin in the Anthropocene: Floods, Land-Use and Energy History cc. 1910-1945
• Gáspár Békés (Sustainable Democracy Association, Hungary): Ocean Acidification: A Blindspot of International Relations & Law
• Miklós Szabó (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary): Landlocked Sea – The Many Boundaries of Caspian Iran
• Ali Sheikh Ahmed Abdi (National University of Public Service, Hungary): Marketisation of Water: Another Mindset to Meltdown Ethiophia's GERD Dam Diplomatic Dilemma Abstract

18:45 Closing Remarks

•    Kinga Szálkai (Head of the Organizing Team, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)

 

Supported by the ÚNKP-20-4 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.