The Nile river basin, for example, is shared by 11 riparian states. It particularly attracted the attention of the world in the late 1990s when demands for water from African riparians, which previously did not make serious demands of the Nile, triggered international concern for possible instability in the region. Further, the mismanagement of the Aral Sea Basin, during Soviet times, has led to an environmental catastrophe and social disasters that the five basin republics have been facing since independence. After almost a decade and a half, and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, there are still many water management deficiencies attributed mainly to the international nature of the problem.

This summer school course intends to focus on several aspects of international water management that have been emerging form recent work in several disciplines. Issues to be addressed include negotiation, management models, regional development, global climate change, and transboundary pollution. The faculty of this summer school course will use both theory and various examples and case studies. The theory will be presented in the first part and the examples and applications will be included in the second part of each lecture. Through, economics, international relations, game theory, and modeling, the students will be exposed to the interdisciplinary nature of international water management.