Water Diplomacy
Freshwater scarcity and the conflicts it produces across national borders are the subject of this MIT OpenCourseWare course. Students examine transboundary water disputes from several regions of the world, studying how competing claims over rivers, aquifers, and watersheds get negotiated when no single authority controls the resource. The course pairs case studies with practical training in negotiation and mediation, building skills students would need to broker actual water agreements rather than just analyze them from a distance. Materials include readings, case files, and assignments developed by MIT faculty, covering topics such as water governance institutions, allocation frameworks, and the political dynamics that turn a shared river into a source of conflict. The course is aimed at raising awareness of the scale of global freshwater problems while giving students concrete tools for resolving them. All course materials are freely available through MIT OpenCourseWare under a Creative Commons license, with no certificate offered.