Thesis title: L’acqua, immagine del potere. Il paesaggio idrogeopolitico coerente della Bassa Valle dell’Omo etiope
The research proposes an alternative methodological approach to the study of the relationship between water, space, and power. Through the concept of the coherent hydro-geopolitical landscape, it investigates the case of Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley—an area characterized by high ethnic fragmentation and specific dynamics of water resource control.
The analysis begins with a critical reconstruction of the contemporary hydro-geopolitical debate, focusing on realist theories, which interpret water scarcity as a determining variable for conflict or cooperation, and on critical and hegemonic perspectives, which read water issues through the lens of discursive practices and mechanisms of domination. Although these approaches have contributed to understanding water dynamics, they present interpretive limitations that reduce the complexity of the water–space–power nexus to rigid and functionalist schemes.
To overcome these limitations, the research introduces the methodological framework of the coherent hydro-geopolitical landscape, aiming to identify the behavioral model underpinning the Ethiopian power system by using practices of water control, distribution, and management as interpretive tools. This framework will be applied to the coherent landscape of the Lower Omo Valley, comparing the formal water practices imposed by the central authority—through the construction of the Gibe III Dam and the launch of the Kuraz Sugar Development Project—with the informal practices of indigenous communities based on flood-recession agriculture.
The analysis will demonstrate that federal control over water follows the model of the developmental state, revealing the incompatibility between national economic objectives and local subsistence systems. This interpretation is also relevant from a development cooperation perspective: indigenous communities tend to perceive cooperative projects as expressions of central authority, and thus their effectiveness depends on the degree of legitimacy that such authority is able to build among local populations.
The overall objective of the research is therefore to demonstrate that analyzing concrete water practices—when conducted at the scale of the coherent hydro-geopolitical landscape—allows for a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between water, space, and power, thereby overcoming the simplifications typical of conflictual and hegemonic theories.