The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Its Implications on Egyptian Hegemony Over the Nile Basin

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a massive hydroelectric dam project located on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. It was launched on April 2, 2011, by the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The dam has an installed capacity of 5150 MW with 74 billion cubic meters of reservoir volumes. This article examines how Egypt has managed to control and build its incessant hegemony over the Nile basin, and the GERD has been analyzed as a counter-hydro-hegemonic tool to tackle and challenge the long-held hegemony Egypt has over the Nile basin. In this article, the qualitative method was applied. It is used to provide appropriate responses to the research questions, that is, by generating new knowledge about and giving meaning to certain phenomena or experiences. In doing so, the article uses both primary and secondary data sources, with key informant interviews serving as the primary tool for collecting primary data. The analysis demonstrates that the GERD is a decisive counter-hydro-hegemonic mechanism and has important ramifications for pressuring Egypt to acknowledge Ethiopia’s right to use the Nile’s water and functions as a mechanism to transform the status quo from a unilateral order into a basin-wide cooperation. Therefore, initiatives like the GERD can leverage an equitable order in the enjoyment of water rights throughout the basin.