By way of introduction

 On the Politics of Water in Africa: Introduction

Hello and welcome!

This brief post will define key terms and set out my intentions and the prospective themes for this weekly blog on hydropolitics in Africa. 

The blog will traverse national, regional and continental cases of water politics in action, observing current and historical tales of the politics of water in Africa. These case studies will coincide with some critical reflection on theories, practices and discourses of water and politics in Africa, with the hope that over the coming weeks we can arrive at more grounded, multi-scalar and relational understandings of African hydropolitics.

Defining the political

The Collins Dictionary defines politics both as 'the practice or study of the art and science of forming, directing, and administrating states and other political units; the art and science of government; political science' and 'the complex or aggregate of relationships of people in society, especially those relationships involving authority or power'. 

Two key aspects of the political emerge from these definitions that will define the focus of this blog: One that politics refers to the management or governance of things and places; and the other that politics is a relational process of power and positionality. 

Why is water political?

Water is inherently political because it is a socially embedded resource (Mollinga, 2008) that has to be managed to ensure access for everyone (unlike air, for example). Its embeddedness goes beyond the basic human need to drink water in order to function, occupying an essential role in agriculture and industry. Water thus must be managed to account for competing needs: hence water politics. This need for management and competing needs forms part of a complex matrix of power dynamics, with winners and losers and those somewhere in between. How this water is managed, at what scales, and the resulting power dynamics is the focus of this blog. 

To thematically link this blog we can outline 4 key themes that define water politics:

• Cooperation  
• Conflict 
• Governance
• Power

African water politics

Traversing the features of water politics in Africa is important because of the distinct problems with water access that some parts of Africa exhibit: The continent features the lowest proportions of national populations with access to safe water (see figure 1) (WHO-UNICEF, 2017). 

Figure 1 Global map showing proportion of national population using at least basic drinking water services,  2015 (WHO-UNICEF, 2017)

In North Africa, home to the Sahara desert, precipitation levels are seasonal and low, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, which enjoys high annual levels of precipitation, rainfall is extremely seasonal (see figure 2). Across the continent river discharges are the most variable in the world (McMahon et al., 2007) meaning the effective political management of water resource distribution and storage is crucial to ensuring year round access to safe water. Africa is home to some of the largest river systems in the world, with many rivers transgressing the borders of over 5 countries. This raises the potential for conflicts and cooperation over the river flows. 

Figure 2 Maps showing seasonal variability in rainfall in Africa (Ziegler et al., 2013)

The weeks to come

While I cannot speak for you guys I am very excited to be starting this blog! I look forward to comments and discussions from and with you all, and for the opportunity to read some of your blogs. Stay tuned!