Watershed or Powershed? Critical Hydropolitics, China and the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework’

TitleWatershed or Powershed? Critical Hydropolitics, China and the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework’
Annotated RecordNot Annotated
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsMiddleton, Allouche
Secondary TitleThe International Spectator
Volume51
Issue3
Pagination100-117
Key themesEcology and Livelihoods, Framing Concepts in Water Governance, Hydropower, Transboundary Governance
Abstract

The countries sharing the Lancang-Mekong River are entering a new era of hydropolitics with a growing number of hydropower dams throughout the basin. Three 'powersheds', conceptualised as physical, institutional and political constructs that connect dams to major power markets in China, Thailand and Vietnam, are transforming the nature-society relations of the watershed. In the process, new conditions are produced within which the region's hydropolitics unfold. This is epitomised by the 'Lancang-Mekong Cooperation' framework, a new initiative led by China that proposes programs on both economic and water resource development, and anticipates hydrodiplomacy via China's dam-engineered control of the headwaters.

URLhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2016.1209385
Availability

Copyright Journal

Countries

China, Regional, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam

Document Type

Journal Article

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