Poslední úprava: JAJE (20.08.2015)
Conflict and cooperation in international watersheds Course Purpose and General Description Conflict and
cooperation in international watersheds is a university grade course for students of political science, international
relations or public international law. Like many other natural resources that are trans-boundary in nature, water is
also subject to conflict and cooperation among nations, international organizations and variety of organizations on
the sub state level. With about 40% of the river basins in the world being shared among two or more nations,
considering population growth rates and elevated levels of pollution, quantity and quality of water are expected to
lead to more interstate interactions over water. These interactions could be ether conflictive or cooperative, with a
changing intensity. Reason for these interactions is a change of circumstances in the watershed. The literature on
water conflicts includes many disciplines and many approaches. Analyses by various scholars including Wolf,
Dinar, Almery, Swain, Wouters, Conca will be used. Among the prominent approaches to study changes in the
watersheds we will use analyse of international treaties based on public international law. We will survey
behaviour determined by the physical attributes of the watershed in the discourse of political geography. We will
consider hydro strategic position of respective riparian states in the context of geopolitics. In general
socioeconomic, biophysical and geopolitical changes will be examined with appropriate tools from the toolbox of
scientific approaches. Understanding the non-water and water background of the disputes, the structure of possible
and actual negotiations, and patterns of cooperation among riparian nations is of great importance. Water
negotiations and will be simulated in the framework of international negotiation theory and other descriptive and
quantitative approaches, including game theory will be used to suggest appropriate strategy for selected
watersheds. We will focus on hotspot of current or past water disputes or water related cooperative events
including: Nile, Okawango, Jordan Euphrates-Tigris, Amu Darya, Syr Daria, Ganges-Brahmaputra Mengha, Indus,
Mekong, Slaween, Danube, Rio Grande and more. Students will gain knowledge in basic concepts of International
Water Law, Non-cooperative and Cooperative Game Theory, Negotiation Theory, International Relations Theory,
and their application in international water. Students will also become acquainted with several major case studies
of water conflict and cooperation through reading, writing and discussion. Student involvement in the class is
essential for a successful outcome of the course. Course Requirements and Structure The course will consist of 8
-9 lessons and last lesson will be dedicated to the presentation of the analytic papers by students and colloquial
examination of the acquired knowledge. PhDr. Mgr. Jakub Landovský Ph.D.
