The Nile river basin is inhabited by 257 million people constituting 53% of the total population of the eleven riparian nation states (Nile Basin Initiative, 2012). This population destiny is combined with processes of urbanization, economic development and social culture. Due to the centrality of the Nile in the lives of people and for development, enormous hydraulic interventions have been constructed to regulate its floods and to manage its recession flows.

Nevertheless, beside these demographic and development needs in the Nile basin, there are other layers of complexity that constitute the Nile hydropolitics. They can be framed in the contestation between two major dynamics: the first is related to the paradigm shift in water management from technical envision to social/community considerations due to the rise of global norms such as equity and ownership as a base for development purposes and interactions. The second dynamic is the international system which intermingles with state-centric and society-centric perspectives.

In view of these dynamics, different social forces engage in the Nile hydraulic projects and policies despite the hegemony of the riparian governments. Therefore, this research aims to investigate how different social forces interact with hydropolitics in the Eastern Nile Basin and what are the constraints of engagement.

Abeer R.Y. Abazeed. (2018). "Bridging the Gap Between Civil Society and the Nile Basin Organizations". UNU-CRIS Policy Brief #1, 11 December 2018, Bruges: UNU Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies.

Abeer Abazeed. (2017). "Trans-boundary water activism: People's engagement in managing a critical resource". Pambazuka, 11 May 2017.

• civic engagement
• foreign aid
• international relations
• the nile politics

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