OLAT

MA-Veranstaltung

Kommentar/Inhaltsbeschreibung

Fresh water is essential to human existence and has no substitute. On the one hand, the population in China accounts for more than 20 percent of the world; however, the country only has 7 percent of the global freshwater resources at its disposal. What is more, a huge part of these resources is polluted and unfit for drinking or use in agriculture. On the other hand, China is an indispensable freshwater provider for most of its neighboring countries, because China is home to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the largest freshwater reserves outside the polar ice caps are located and where several major transboundary rivers originate. Meanwhile, the pressure on water resources is further growing across Asia – due mainly to economic development, population growth, urbanization, and climate change. The potential for water-related conflicts, sub-state and international, is therefore increasing as well.

Against this complicated background, this seminar is divided into two main parts: The first part deals with China’s domestic water woes, seeking to identify key problems as well as their socio-economic drivers and political root causes, but also looking into recent political developments aimed at alleviating the situation. With the domestic picture in mind, the second part, then, turns to the international theater and focuses on China’s river politics vis-à-vis its riparian neighbors, trying to analyze China’s actions in light of a cooperation-versus-conflict matrix and looking into the broader implications of China’s behavior for its continued (peaceful) rise.

Kursplan/Syllabus