Upstream–Downstream Relations, Nationalism, and Environmentalism in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

Central Asia has historically been a contentious region for water, stoking tension and cooperation. This paper explores how the water experiences of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan impact public opinion on environmental views, using the World Values Survey. This paper finds, using ordered logistic regression, that in upstream Tajikistan, nationalism is associated with environmentalism, yet no conclusive findings can be found in Uzbekistan. While these outcomes are limited to the relationship between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in a specific time period, such findings offer a potential model for understanding how riparian geographic positioning can influence environmental views through nationalism.