Dams, Floods and Cuts: Diverging Waters Between Governments and Civil Societies - Examples From The Levant

In a region infamous for its water scarcity, authorities in several Levant countries have often been found wanting when it comes to providing necessary services such as water for drinking and domestic chores, water for industrial operations, water for agriculture, proper sanitation services, and storm water drainage. Equally important, hydraulic infrastructure has experienced frequent failure in many countries of the Levant, when coupled with poor governance, has driven people to take to the streets in protest of governments and their ineffective handling of water services provision. In Lebanon, throughout modern history, civil society has played a significant role in providing aid and development services, influencing discourse, and attempting to enact political change. In Jordan, civil society and NGOs need to manoeuvre between multiple centers of power and key political actors, most notably those of the monarchy. They avoid confronting authorities but instead choose to work and cooperate with them to reach their goals. In Iraq, civil society has gone through multiple challenging and turbulent phases in its recent political history, from the monarchical rule of the 1920s, to the subsequent decade of military coups in the 1960s, followed by the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein, to the present situation.