Hydropolitics, Hydro-hegemony and the Problem of Egypt's Securitization of The Eastern Nile Basin

The main goal of this study is to provide an explanation of the concept of securitization as a hegemonic compliance-producing mechanism for preserving the status quo as per the 1959 Agreement in the Nile Basin. Though the systematic power-analytical approach and hegemonic and counter-hegemonic control strategies have been explored to analyze the interaction over the waters of the Nile Basin, not much attention have been devoted to explain the effects of Egypt's "asymmetric material power" from the realist paradigm in International Relations theory as the ultimate determining explanatory factor for the maintenance of the status quo in the Nile Basin. The conceptual framework of securitization deployed in this study reveals that asymmetric material power is the ultimate determining explanatory factor for Egypt's securitization of the Nile waters which rules out the possibility of promoting any alternative water agreement in the Nile Basin. The main research question which guides this study is: "How does water securitization determine confrontation or maintenance of the status quo in the promotion of an alternative water allocative formulae/agreement?" The study employs triangulative methodology: using quantitative and qualitative research strategies. The study also utilizes explanatory (causal) case studies research methodology to identify the causal factors to the problem of securitization of Nile waters. Path Analysis is used to establish direct-causal relationship between asymmetric material power, asymmetric water control and water security effects on securitization. The results of the explanation of the concept of securitization which the study deploys as the cause of the maintenance of status quo and rules out the possibility of promoting an alternative water agreement seeks to advance knowledge and bring better understanding to the most effective way to implement the various water sharing formulae and to address water security and contemporary development challenges in the Nile Basin.