Dr Mark Zeitoun

Job Title	Contact	Location
Reader in Development Studies	M dot Zeitoun at uea dot ac dot uk Tel: +44 (0)1603 59 3232	Arts 1.17

Personal
Research

Biography

Mark’s primary research interests lie in the political economy of transboundary environmental governance in ‘development’ contexts. He concentrates on three specific topics: a) international and sub-national transboundary water conflict and cooperation; b) climate vulnerability and adaption to environmental and political change; and c) relationships between environmental conflict, and human, state and regional security. He is particularly interested in the role that power asymmetry plays within each topic, with a geographic focus on the Middle East and Africa.

The interests have been cultivated by his role as co-lead in the London Water Research Group and the UEA Water Security Research Centre, both of which take a critical perspective at international transboundary environmental cooperation and conflict, and 'hydro-hegemony'. The groups gather international water professionals, activists and scholars from the social and natural sciences to address issues of asymmetric water allocation and regimes. The contributions to water science and water policy are through demonstrating the relevance of political economy, hydro-politics and international law at the river basin, regional and global levels.

The research is based on a professional career in water policy, management and negotiations. Mark has worked as a humanitarian-aid water engineer in conflict and post-conflict zones, including in Chad/Darfur, Congo-Brazzaville, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine. He consults regularly on water negotiations, policy and governance for a variety of organisations. He is author of Power and Water in the Middle East: The Hidden Politics of the Palestinian-Israeli Water Conflict (IB Tauris 2008), and contributes regularly to debates through public lectures and media pieces.

Academic Background

Mark has a B.Eng in civil engineering (1990) and an M.Sc in environmental engineering (1998) from McGill University, and a PhD in human geography from King’s College London (2006). He is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Affiliations

International Water Resources Association – Executive Board, 2009
GEF-Science / UNESCO Groundwater Working Group – member, 2009
UNESCO ISARM Conference 2010 – Scientific Steering Committee
Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics, Visiting Fellow (from 2008)
London Water Research Group – coordinator or lead (from 2006)
International Water Resources Association XIII World Water Congress, Scientific Steering Committee (2006 - 2008)
Association of American Geographers, USA (2008)
Canadian Water Resources Association, Canada (from 2005)
Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief, London (from 2004)
International Water Resources Association, USA (from 2004)
Professional Engineers Ontario, Canada (from 1996)
Centre for Developing Area Studies, Montreal (1998 – 1999)
Ingénieurs sans frontières (Engineers Without Borders), Montreal (1998 - 1999)

Key Research Interests

Political economy of transboundary environmental governance in development contexts. International and sub-national transboundary water conflict and cooperation; climate vulnerability and adaption to environmental and political change; relationships between environmental conflict, and human, state and regional security. Middle East and Africa.

Research Groups: Global Environmental Justice; UEA Water Security Research Centre

Publications

Journal Articles and Books

Zeitoun, Mark, Eid-Sabbagh, Karim, Talhami, Michael and Dajani, Muna (2013). Hydro-hegemony in the Upper Jordan Waterscape: Control and use of the flows. Water Alternatives 6(1): 86 - 106.

Mason, Michael, Zeitoun, Mark and Mimi, Ziad (2012). Compounding Vulnerability: Impacts of Climate Change on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Journal of Palestine Studies XLI(3): 38 - 53.
Link to document

Mason, Michael, Mark Zeitoun and Rebhy el Sheikh (2011) Conflict and social vulnerability to climate change: Lessons from Gaza. Climate and Development 2011 iFirst article: 1-13.
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark (2011) The Global Web of National Water Security. Global Policy 2(3): 286 - 296
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark, Tony (J.A.) Allan, Nasser al Aulaqi, Amer Jabarin and Hammou Laamrani (2011). Water Demand Management in Yemen and Jordan: Addressing Power and Interests. The Geographical Journal - available online 3 June 2011
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark, Naho Mirumachi and Jeroen Warner (2010) Transboundary water interaction II: Soft power underlying conflict and cooperation. International Environmental Agreements 11: 159 - 178
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark, J. A. (Tony) Allan and Mohieldeen, Yasir (2010) Virtual water 'flows' of the Nile Basin, 1998 - 2004: A first approximation and implications for water security. Global Environmental Change 20: 229 - 242
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark, Clemens Messerschmid, Shaddad Attili (2009) Asymmetric Abstraction and Allocation: The Israeli-Palestinian Water Pumping Record. Ground Water 47 (1): 146 – 160
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark (2008) Power and Water in the Middle East - The Hidden Politics of the Palestinian-Israeli Water Conflict. London, UK: I.B. Tauris, 214pp.
Link to Publication

Warner, Jeroen and Mark Zeitoun (2008) International Relations Theory and Water Do Mix: Hydro-Hegemony and International Water Relations. Political Geography 27 (2008): 802 – 810
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark, Naho Mirumachi (2008) Transboundary Water Interaction I: Reconsidering Conflict and Cooperation. International Environmental Agreements (2008) 8: 297 – 316
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark and Tony Allan, eds (2008) Special Issue on Hydro-Hegemony. Water Policy 10 (S2)

Zeitoun, Mark and Tony Allan (2008) Applying Hegemony and Power Theory to Transboundary Water Analysis. Water Policy 10 (S2): 3-12
Link to document

Woodhouse, Melvin and Mark Zeitoun (2008) Hydro-hegemony and international water law: grappling with the gaps of power and law. Water Policy 10 (S2): 103-119
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark (2007) The Conflict vs. Cooperation Paradox: Fighting over or Sharing of Palestinian-Israeli Groundwater? Water International 32 (1): 105-120 [*Best Paper 2008, International Water Resources Association*]
Link to document

Zeitoun, Mark and Jeroen Warner (2006) Hydro-Hegemony: A Framework for Analysis of Transboundary Water Conflicts. Water Policy 8 (5): 435-460
Link to document

Book Chapters and Reports

Zeitoun, Mark (2013). International hydro-politics: Lessons for water diplomacy from the Jordan and the Nile. Workshop for Water Ethics, Geneva, 19 March 2013, Faculties of International Law and Theology, University of Geneva.

Zeitoun, M (2012) Basin Justice: Using social justice to address gaps in river basin management. DEV Research Briefing 5 (December), University of East Anglia, Norwich

Zeitoun, Mark, Karim Eid-Sabbagh, Muna Dajani and Michael Talhami (2012) Hydro-political Baseline of the Upper Jordan River. Beirut, Association of the Friends of Ibrahim Abd el Al.
Executive Summary   Main Text   Annexes   Executive Summary in Arabic

Zeitoun, Mark (2012). Diplomacy for water Security. In Climate Diplomacy in Perspective: From Early Warning to Early Action. Tanzler, D. and A. Carius (ed). Berlin: Berliner Wisserschafts-Verlag.
Link to book chapter   Link to book website

Zeitoun, Mark and Anders Jägerskog (2011) Addressing Power Asymmetry: How Transboundary Water Management May Serve to Reduce Poverty. Report No. 29. Stockholm, Stockholm International Water Institute.
Link to Document:

Zeitoun, M., Cascao, A., England, M. and Hodbod, J. (2010). Water Demand Management and the water-food-climate nexus in the Middle-East and North Africa region. Water Demand Management Research Series, International Development Research Centre.
French edition   English edition   Arabic edtion

Zeitoun, Mark (2010) Environmental Geopolitics and Hydro-Hegemony: The Case of Palestine-Israel. In: Tvedt, T., G. P. Chapman and R. Hagen, A History of Water: Water and Geopolitics in the New World Order - Series 2 V.3. London, IB Tauris.
Link to book  Link to Document

Cascao, Ana Elisa and Mark Zeitoun (2010) Power, Hegemony and Critical Hydropolitics. In: Earle, Anton, Anders Jägerskog and Joachim Ojendal, Transboundary Water Management: Principles and Practice. London: Earthscan
Link to publication  Link to Document

Zeitoun, Mark and Naho Mirumachi (2010) Transboundary water interaction: Reconsidering conflict and cooperation (reprint). In: Wegerich, Kai and Jeroen Warner, The Politics of Water: A Survey. London: Routledge.
Link to publication

Zeitoun, Mark (2010) A century of water use in historic Palestine. In: Abu Sitta, Salman, An Atlas of Palestine 1917 - 1966, London: Palestine Land Society. pp142 - 144. Online

Zeitoun, Mark (2009) Synthesis of WaDImena Research on Political Economy of Water Demand Management in Yemen and Jordan. Ottawa, International Development Research Council.
Link to Document    Policy Brief

Jägerskog, Anders, Mark Zeitoun and Anders Berntell (2009) Addressing Transboundary Water Management Challenges: Getting it Right. In: Jägerskog, Anders and Mark Zeitoun, Getting Transboundary Water Right: Theory and Practice for Effective Cooperation. Report Nr. 25, Stockholm: Stockholm International Water Institute.
Link to Document

Zeitoun, Mark and Anders Jägerskog (2009) Confronting Power: Strategies to Support Less Powerful States. In: Jägerskog, Anders and Mark Zeitoun, Getting Transboundary Water Right: Theory and Practice for Effective Cooperation. Report Nr. 25, Stockholm: Stockholm International Water Institute.
Link to Document

Zeitoun, Mark (2007) Violations, Opportunities and Power along the Jordan River: Security Studies Theory Applied to Water Conflict. In: Shuval, H. and H. Dweik, Water Resources in the Middle East - the Israeli-Palestinian Water Conflict. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer Verlag.
Link to Document

Phillips, David, Shaddad Attili, Stephen McCaffrey, John Murray and Mark Zeitoun (2005) The Water Rights of the Co-riparians to the Jordan River Basin. In: Khatib, Imad, Karen Assaf, Dominique Claeys and Ayman al Haj Daoud (eds), Water Values and Rights, Ramallah, Palestine: Palestine Academy Press.

Zeitoun, Mark (2005) Conflict and Water in Palestine - The Consequences of Armed Conflict on Drinking-Water Systems in Jenin, West Bank. In: Khatib, Imad, Karen Assaf, Dominique Claeys and Ayman al Haj Daoud (eds), Water Values and Rights, Ramallah, Palestine: Palestine Academy Press.
Link to Document Link to Annexes

Reviews

Zeitoun, M., (2009) Review of Water and peace for the people: Possible solutions to water disputes in the Middle East, by Jon Martin Trondalen, Water Alternatives 2 (1).
Link to Document

Zeitoun, M.,(2008) Review of Water Policy for Sustainable Development by David Lewis Feldman, Environment and Planning C, 26 (5).
Link to Journal Article

Zeitoun, M.,(2008) Review of Scarcity, Entitlements and the Economics of Water in Developing Countries, by P.B. Anand, Waterlines 27 (4).

Zeitoun, M.,(2008) Review of A New Legal Framework for Managing the Worlds’ Shared Groundwaters: A Case Study from the Middle East, by Fadia Daibes-Murad, Palestine Yearbook of International Law, Volume XIV, Bir Zeit University Institute of Law.
Link to Volume

Zeitoun, M.,(2007) Review of Governing Water by Ken Conca and Adaptive Governance and Water Conflict by Scholz and Stifter (eds), Environment and Planning – A, 39 (10): 2540-2541.
Link to Journal Article

Opinion pieces / Popular Press

Bitter Harvest: Ulterior motives behind the provision or denial of water in Palestine-Israel, Opinion in Revolve Magazine, February 2012
Link to article

Ducking the Issues: Water Management by Middle Eastern Governments, Viewpoint in Middle East International, April 2010
Link to article

All is not quiet on the waterfront, Experts debate on water wars, Seed Magazine, 14 May 2009
Link to Online Publication

Not all water cooperation is pretty, New Security Beat, Blog of the Woodrow Wilson Centre Environmental Change and Security Program, 6 April 2008
Link to Online Publication

Why Water Shouldn’t Flow Uphill, European Voice, 19 March 2008
Link to Online Publication

Complicity When the Dam Breaks. Opinion, International Herald Tribune, 11 April 2007
Link to Online Publication

Water and the De-development of Gaza. Feature, Palestine Solidarity Committee News, Autumn 2007

Fixing the Sources of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Feature, European Voice, 28 September 2006
Link to Online Publication

Now is the Time for Canadian Leadership - A View from London, al Bawaba News, 24 July 2006

Gaza’s Polluted Water. UNDP Focus Magazine, Vol. 3, 2005

Disaster Waiting to Happen: On the Chad-Sudan Border. Opinion, International Herald Tribune, 14 Aug. 2004
Link to Online Article

Crisis in Chad. Opinion, The Globe & Mail (Canada), 12 August 2004

Avoiding a Mideast Water War. Opinion, The Washington Post, February 2004
Link to Online Publication Link to Online Article

The Wall and Water. Cover, News & Views (Journal of the ICID – UK), Autumn 2004

More Bombs and Bread. Opinion, The Jordan Times, November 2003

Bombs and Bread. Opinion, The Ottawa Citizen, January 2002