An international river basin is an ecological system, an economic thoroughfare, a geographical area, a font of life and livelihoods, a geopolitical network and, often, a cultural icon. It is also a socio-legal phenomenon. This book is the first detailed study of an international river basin from a socio-legal perspective. The Mekong River Basin, which sustains approximately 70 million people across Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, provides a prime example of the socio-legal complexities of governing a transboundary river and its tributaries.

The book applies its socio-legal analysis to bring a fresh approach to understanding conflicts surrounding water governance in the Mekong River Basin. The authors describe the wide range of uses being made of legal doctrine and legal argument in ongoing disputes surrounding hydropower development in the Basin, putting to rest lingering caricatures of a single, 'ASEAN' way of navigating conflict. They call into question some of the common assumptions concerning the relationship between law and development. The book also sheds light on important questions concerning the global hybridization or crossover of public and private power and its ramifications for water governance. With current debates and looming conflicts over water governance globally, and over shared rivers in particular, these issues could not be more pressing.

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Yes, you can access The Mekong: A Socio-legal Approach to River Basin Development by Ben Boer,Philip Hirsch,Fleur Johns,Ben Saul,Natalia Scurrah in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Law & Environmental Law. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

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Publisher

Year

Print ISBN

eBook ISBN

Edition

Topic

Law

Subtopic

Environmental Law

Index

Law

Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of figures and tables
List of abbreviations
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
2 River basins as socio-legal arenas
3 Making the Mekong River Basin: donors, developers and experts
4 Governing a river basin: the work of the Mekong River Commission
5 Assessing a river basin: the politics of the technical
6 Disclosing a river basin: transparency and its discontents
7 Contesting a river basin: civil society’s legal strategies
8 Conclusion
Appendix 1: Selected national legislation, regulations, decisions and ministerial instructions
Appendix 2: Selected international, regional and bilateral treaties pertaining to Mekong states, and selected ‘soft’ law human rights, environmental and financial standards
Bibliography
Index

About this book

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Table of contents