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Cooperating internationally over water: explaining l'espace OMVS*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2012

Undala Alam
Undala Alam*
Affiliation:
School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, Queen's University Belfast, 21 University Square, Belfast BT7 1PA, United Kingdom
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Since the early 1960s, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal have cooperated over the Senegal river. Contrary to the norms of managing international rivers, the riparians have subjugated their sovereignty and incurred national debt to jointly develop the benefits from their shared river, despite intra-basin tensions and conflict. The Senegal experience highlights an alternative path to tackling the consequences of climate change, poor water management and increasing demand. In seeking to explain the intensity of international cooperation displayed in the basin, this article examines the characteristics of international rivers and the Senegal basin's history, and concludes that Pan-Africanism, francophonie and the political leaders' attitudes to regional cooperation shaped l'espace OMVS.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 175 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Dr Ousmane Dione for trying to explain the Senegal riparians’ cooperation, and am delighted he came to understand my initial incredulity born of South Asia's fractious experience. I am grateful to Drs Alistair Clark and Nidia Oliveira for reading this article in its myriad guises and providing judicious comments.

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