River activism, policy entrepreneurship and transboundary water disputes in Asia

This article examines the role of non-state actors–namely, ‘river activists’–in the management of major transboundary rivers in Asia. Focusing on unresolved disputes over the utilization of the water resources of the Mekong, Nu-Salween and Brahmaputra Rivers, it argues that aside from riparian governments, these activists have contributed considerably to shaping the nature of socio-political contestation in these cases. Drawing upon a ‘policy entrepreneurship’ framework for analysis, civil society actors are revealed to play an important, if not leading, role in catalyzing and framing water disputes at the national and transnational levels, with cascading consequences for regional water governance.