The political context of change in transboundary freshwater agreements

While academics have argued that most interactions between states over shared water resources demonstrate a tendency for cooperation rather than conflict, they have also identified treaties and agreements as the best examples of continued cooperation. However, treaties and agreements may also be a cause for conflict, especially when they are deemed to be unfair and unjust. Moreover, increasing burdens from climate change such as changing climate patterns and higher variability in precipitation combined with changing water demand from population growth and economic development generate a pressure to reform existing treaties and agreements. This article, adopting initial steps of comparative historical analysis, investigates the role of the political context in driving amendments and replacements in transboundary freshwater agreements.