Securitizing Water in Central Asia: Security and Discourse in the Tajik-Uzbek Water Disputes

Abstract

This study aims to examine the securitization processes over the water resources and motives behind it between the two Central Asian states Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. As well as what role the competing water discourse plays between the two states concerned by utilizing the question of to what extent the framing security discourse around water, specifically in regards of construction of the Roghun HPP, undermines the two side relations. The study applies the theory of securitization, as developed by the Copenhagen School, in which the process of communication and political security, understood as a speech act, are emphasized. As it known, water related issues between the states of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is complex, although not violent, and deeply embedded in the confrontation structures of the wider Tajik-Uzbek uneasy bilateral relations. The combined approach of the securitization theory and discourse analysis allows examining various aspects of the transboundary water interaction between the states of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and explaining the extreme asymmetry of water allocations of the two political entities. Thus, uncovering the reasons behind the creating the “discourse of danger”, mainly by Uzbekistan and framing the discourse of “…the matter of life or death” by Tajikistan around the construction of the Roghun HPP.