The conflict around the Rogun dam as an example of disputes over water resources

Water scarcity is an area of disputes between many states. Generally, these conflicts occur as a result of competition for water resources. They are especially visible in underdeveloped regions, such as Africa or the Middle East. Central Asia, the five republics established after the collapse of the USSR, is also an area exposed to conflicts. An example of such conflict can be the construction of the Rogun dam on Vakhsh river in Tajikistan. The project caused a lot of controversy and further construction fueled them even more. The aim of the paper is to present the conflict over the Rogun dam on the Vakhsh river in Tajikistan as an example of a conflict over water resources in Central Asia. The article presents the genesis and essence of the dispute, as well as attempts to resolve the conflict.

Central Asia is revealing itself as an area where the problem of access to water and its current regional dynamics are almost at a radically critical level, where the potential risk of water disputes is still one of the highest in the world. Therefore, water scarcity issues and challenges triggered by the Aral Sea syndrome, the existing water mismanagement system, infrastructural and investment projects of dams and water reservoirs (Rogun, Naryn, Kambarata, Toktogul, etc.) and their transformation towards an existential threat will be analyzed within the securitization prism through the selected speech acts. This article will contribute to developing a new analytical framework of Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) and the securitization theory in water stress. The efforts undertaken in this article will ultimately lead to the development of a new approach to issues of water security and hydro politics within the concept of the Regional Water Security Complex (RWSC) on the example of the Central Asian region. The main research question will be to what extent water, as an immanent feature of this complex, is politicized and securitized. An important question will also be how the formulated security language indicates the existential nature of water as a security problem in the region.