SECURITISATION OF TRANSBOUNDRY RIVERS AND AN APPRAISAL OF THE CONCEPT /
SALAM ABDULQADIR ABDULRAHMAN; SUPERVISOR: ASST PROF. DR NUSRET SINAN EVCAN
- 186 sheets; 31 cm. Includes CD
Thesis (PhD) - Cyprus International University. Institute of Graduate Studies and Research International Relations Department
Includes bibliography (sheets 157-179)
ABSTRACT Security and the environment have been in close ties since the expansion of the security concept at the end of the Cold War. The environment and environmental issues are now on top of the government agenda in many countries and they are a determining factor in their international relations. Securitisation of an environmental issue means that the issue is treated in the security realm; it receives the greatest attention and most urgent and appropriate solution by the political authority. Securitisation as a process offers a different solution to the problem in question, and, as a concept, it reframes itself against the nature of the problem it seeks to tackle. This study looks at the problem of the rivers flowing from Iran and going to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Iraq, namely the Alwand, Sirwan and the Lower Zab rivers, and the threats arising from their drying up to the lives and wellbeing of people in downstream Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It also looks at the Nile River for comparison purposes and concludes that the nature of this particular environmental problem – drying up Transboundary Rivers and creating water shortage in downstream states – calls for unconventional treatment which can be found in securitisation but there are limitations and obstacles to the process which will have implications for the concept.