This volume discusses the politics of the freshwater crisis, specifically how access to water is determined in different regions and historical periods, how conflict is constructed and managed, and how identity and efforts to control water systems, through development, technologies, and institutions, shape one another.

Catherine M. Ashcraft is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of New Hampshire, USA.

Tamar Mayer is the Robert R. Churchill Professor of Geosciences and Director of both the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs and the Program in International and Global Studies at Middlebury College, USA.

1. The Politics of Fresh Water: Setting the Stage Tamar Mayer and Catherine M. Ashcraft 2. Ancient Roman Water Rights and Commons Theory Cynthia J. Bannon 3. Legal Mobilization and the Politics of Water Pollution: The Case of the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin in Argentina Daniel Ryan and Andrés Napoli 4. Does River Basin Governance Mean Wider Access to River Management? A Long-term Perspective from the Tennessee, Columbia, and Connecticut Rivers Eve Vogel 5. Shifting Currents in Water Diplomacy: Negotiating Conflict in the Danube and Nile River Basins Catherine M. Ashcraft 6. The Era of Big Dam Building: It ain't Over 'til it's Over Francis J. Magilligan, Chris S. Sneddon, and Coleen A. Fox 7. Oil and Water Don't Mix: Impacts of Oil and Gas Development on Sakhalin's Water Resources Jessica K. Graybill 8. The Plight of New Zealand's Watersheds Michael Vincent McGinnis 9. Cultural Water Wars: Power and Hegemony in the Semiotics of Water David Groenfeldt 10. Theorizing Gender, Ethnic Difference, and Inequality in Relation to Water Access and Politics in Southeastern Turkey Leila M. Harris 11. Water, Life, and Community in the Arid Realm: The Curious Case of Karez and Acequia Daanish Mustafa 12. The Politics of Muddled Waters in Gujarat: A Religious Nationalist Development Model's Treatment of Water Pushpa Iyer 13. In Hidden View: How Water became a Catalyst for Indigenous Farmworker Resistance in Baja California, Mexico Marcos López 14. From Management to Governance: Rethinking Water Policy and Privatization on Easter Island Maria Alessandra Woolson 15. Strange Waters: From Confluence to Vortex in the Los Angeles Basin T. S. McMillin