Water Diplomacy Between India and Bangladesh in A Globalized World: Overcoming The Limits of State Sovereignty

One of the thorniest issues in India-Bangladesh relations is the fair and equitable share of common rivers. Except for the 1996 Ganges Water Sharing Treaty these two countries have not made much progress in resolving water disputes. Narrow understanding of national interest and mutual hostility and suspicion are mostly responsible for such a grim reality. Bangladesh’s repeated efforts to revive South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and involve other co-riparian countries in the region to offset the power asymmetry in its relations with India have not produced desired results. This article advocates a three pronged diplomatic strategy for Bangladesh to overcome the constraints of state sovereignty and open new windows of opportunity for water negotiation. The central argument revolves around the importance of involving all relevant actors and stakeholders in resolving the disputes. Indian Constitution bestows considerable amount of autonomy to the state governments in terms of making resource related decisions. So following the logic of para-diplomacy the article argues that Bangladesh should change its Delhi cantered diplomatic strategy and engage more with relevant state governments in India in order to achieve mutually beneficial results. Such sub-national level interaction over a sensitive issue like water requires a stable and cooperative environment. Here comes the second tenet of the article, Track II diplomacy. It is suggested here that socialization of elites from both sides of the borer should be actively promoted to create an enabling environment for integrative water negotiation. The last aspect of the strategy focuses on the involvement of non-governmental organizations in the region to produce objective and independent assessment of the present water (in)security situation and build public opinion that can lead to informed negotiations. If harnessed properly, the information power and networking skills of these organizations could be vital in setting agenda and implementing policy prescriptions.