The prospect of international conflict over water has long been the subject of academic and popular concern, but subnational political conflict is considerably more common, and almost certainly imposes greater economic and environmental costs. Indeed, subnational hydropolitics are an important feature of several large countries, including the United States, India, and China. Moreover, disputes between water users in shared river basins have often persisted despite repeated attempts by central governments to resolve them through both persuasion and coercion. Yet despite the growing threat of water scarcity around the world, little research exists on subnational politics of shared water resources. This book attempts to fill the gap by explaining how and why hydropolitics play out within countries, as well as between them. Subnational Hydropolitics re-examines the issue of water conflict by examining conflicts at the subnational rather than international level. By examining several in-depth case studies of both conflict and cooperation, Scott Moore argues that increasing subnational water conflict is driven by two inter-linked forces, identity politics, which gives subnational politicians a reason to compete over shared water resources; and political decentralization, which provides them with the tools to do so. To understand politics at the subnational level, the book blends insights from both the environmental governance and comparative politics literatures. By examining the challenges many countries face in achieving cooperation over shared water resources, the book helps to shed light on different mechanisms and processes for solving cooperation problems at the regional scale lessons relevant to tackling a wide range of transboundary environmental problems, including air pollution, urbanization, and ecosystem protection. But at its core, this book promises a definitive contribution to the growing sub-field of environmental politics, centered on understanding how different countries attempt to solve the problems inherent in governing water resources in shared river basins.

About the Author
Scott Moore is a scholar and policymaker focused on environmental issues, especially water resources, climate change, and oceans. His research and commentary on these issues has appeared in Nature, Foreign Affairs, and The New York Times. His work experience includes the U.S. State Department, where he led U.S. - China cooperation on climate change and ocean conservation, and the World Bank, where he led water sector institutional reform and financing projects as a Young Professional. He holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton, and a master's and doctoral degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews
This timely and masterful work illuminates vexing environmental and political challenges and offers pertinent solutions... Summing Up: Highly Recommended. * CHOICE *
Moore proffers four case studies to demonstrate how different forms of governments are addressing intra-basin conflicts. The initial example involves the Colorado River, which has been contested since the 19th century and has an international aspect. The focus then shifts to India's Krishna River basin, where the inability of federal and state actors to forge a compromise threatens the country's political stability. Contrasting is a fascinating study of the challenges faced by China's centralized government over management of the Yellow River basin. The final exemplar involves France, which has had a water agency for each of its river basins since the 1960s and enjoys relative peace over its water. This timely and masterful work illuminates vexing environmental and political challenges and offers pertinent solutions. * Dr John Burch Jr, University of Tennessee at Martin *
This is an original and insightful contribution to our understanding of the politics and financing of water. Dr. Moores research demands to be read by the broadest possible range of development practitioners and scholars. * Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and co-author of Australia's National Water Initiative *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190864101
Author Scott M. Moore
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 157mm * 236mm * 25mm