Conflicts within Mekong river region : an analysis on the capacity of Mekong river commission.

• Main Author: Xu, Shasha.
• Other Authors: Li Ming Jiang
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55187
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was built in 1995 for the purpose of sustainable development of Mekong River. Based on the Neoliberal Institutionalism, the cooperation and instruments could be conducive to solving hydro-political problems. However, the biggest problem existing in the current MRC is that the larger power of the member countries and their pursuit of individual national interests under the influence of Realism. Why cannot the MRC constrain the power of the member countries to ensure effective implementation of its policies? Why does it seem to compromise to the member governments on the water-related issues? This paper attempts to answer these questions. This paper first reviews the establishment of MRC and how conflicts emerge in a historical approach. The previous studies on the factors resulting in the weak capacity ofMRC would be collected. The second part will classify the weak capacity of MRC through methodology and theoretical framework. The third section analyzes why the capacity of MRC is weak from the perspective of Realism and then provides the policy recommendations on the basis of Neoliberal Institutionalism. The conclusion is that the weak capacity of MRC originates from the strong power of member governments. Without enough regulatory power on them, the MRC can hardly be a successful coordinator, arbitrator and information provider in the Mekong River Basin.