Nile River – Northeast Africa – This thesis is an exercise to isolate the causes of cooperation in the Nile Basin. Three riparians—Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia—all have a strategic interest in accessing more water. Since the Nile is such a fluctuating, unpredictable natural resource, collaborating on infrastructure projects or distribution levels would manage the river better than by individuals. While the story is familiar—a group of states need to coordinate action—the international environment is much different than Elinor Ostrom’s theory on common-pool resources.196 There are no norms. Defection is not yet plausible. The Nile basin is not even a community.197 Although this puzzle does not fit the conventional mold of collective action problems, it shares many themes.
More information:
- Ostrom, Elinor. Rules, Games, and Common-Pool Resources. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1994, 12-34.
- Renner, George T. “The Geographic Regions of the Sudan.” Economic Geography, Vol. 2, No. 2. Clark University, 1926. PP. 256-273.
- Stanton, E. A. “ The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.” Journal of the Royal African Society, Vol. 11, No. 43. Oxford University Press, 1912. PP. 261-274. Stephens, RH. Nasser: A Political Biography. Lane, 1971.
- Yohannes, Okbazghi. Water Resources and Inter-Riparian Relations in the Nile Basin: the Search for Integrative Discourse. SUNY Press, 2008, pp. 53.
Governing the Nile 