India's Hydro-hegemony over Bangladesh in the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty (2019-2024)

Abstract

Transboundary rivers often become a space for interaction and tension between countries due to water distribution, geographical position, and management capacity that are not always balanced. In the context of the Ganges River, the relationship between India as the upstream country and Bangladesh as the downstream country shows complex dynamics. The development and operation of infrastructure in the upstream region, including flow regulation through the Farakka Barrage, has a direct impact on water availability in the downstream region. Although both countries are bound by the 1996 Ganges Agreement and formally engage in water sharing cooperation, questions arise as to the extent to which this cooperation takes place within an equal power structure, especially when one party has greater control over infrastructure, hydrological data, and technological capacity. This study aims to analyze the hegemony in the management of the Ganges River between India and Bangladesh using the Hydro-hegemony framework developed by Mark Zeitoun and Jeroen Warner. The approach used is qualitative through document analysis of bilateral agreements, official government reports, and secondary data on the material and institutional capacities of both countries. The analysis focuses on power asymmetry, sources of power, water resource control strategies, and the outcomes. The results of the study show that material inequality, control over upstream infrastructure, and institutional designs that do not create shared control place India in a dominant position in the river management structure. Cooperation continues and is relatively stable, but it exists within an asymmetrical power configuration. Based on analysis of all theoretical components, this relationship represents a form of hydro-hegemony that is maintained through structural superiority and institutional authority without overt coercion.