Waters of Contestation: Hydropolitics and Resistance in the Amu Darya Basin

This paper analyses hydropolitical tensions between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the Amu Darya Basin, reframing them as expressions of resistance rather than failures of cooperation. It defines resistance as multi-scalar and multi-modal, encompassing infrastructure, institutions, narratives and everyday practices. Tajikistan’s hydropower development, particularly the Rogun Dam, challenges downstream dominance and post-Soviet dependency, while Uzbekistan’s infrastructural entrenchment, environmental framing and diplomatic leverage counter upstream initiatives. Drawing on political ecology, resistance theory and Indigenous scholarship, the study incorporates the Amu Darya’s agency, its seasonal variability, sediment transport and climate vulnerability as a political force influencing state strategies. This perspective challenges anthropocentric hydropolitical models and highlights how human and non-human actors co-produce enduring contestation. Situated in a history of imperial rivalry, Soviet modernisation and post-independence state-building, the analysis shows that resistance is central to governance in the basin. It concludes that adaptive, flexible governance approaches are essential for negotiating a shared future in this dynamic ecological and political landscape.