From Geopolitics to Hydropolitics: In Search of the Discipline Boundaries

Hydropolitics is a term that has spread widely in the 21st century. Its definitions are multiple and often ambiguous. The breadth and contradictory nature of the concept is the reason for the researchers’ increased attention to it since it forms a demand for certainty. The article aims to analyze the definitions and disciplinary claims of hydropolitics. Methodologically, the author draws on the ideas of formal geopolitics which makes it possible to consider the problems of water supply and political power in the context of the increasing scarcity of natural resources. Endowing water with political meanings and using it as a symbol is, in fact, a centuries-old practice. However, we consider this phenomenon only within the chronological framework of modernity, which is characterized by an age-old linkage between climate change and the politicization of water as a resource. This implies the existence of a worldwide crisis caused by the impending scarcity of fresh water-the peculiarity of 21st-century discourse is the emphasis on both fresh and clean water. All of the above affects interstate relations and creates a new diplomacy format-hydropolitical relations. This means interstate engagement focusing on the issues of fresh water distribution or ensuring access to it. Technological and engineering solutions towards ensuring water supply are of great importance in this sphere. This factor distinguishes hydropolitics from geopolitics and other areas of political knowledge. Hydropolitics is a science that studies political power, water, and the role of hydraulic structures as tools of power control over water in the lives of many societies. All of the aforementioned characteristics allow one to approach hydropolitics as a distinct field, similar to geopolitics, and based on the neorealist theory.