The paper explores the politics of scale associated with the top-down planning of large hydraulic infrastructures in the Tigris–Euphrates basin. Against the backdrop of a worsening water crisis and the lack of cooperation between riparian countries, dams and reservoirs across the transboundary river system are sites of contestation between competing claims over dwindling and disputed resources. Drawing on post-structuralist insights from human geography on the politics of scale and the literature on megaprojects, it is argued here that hydraulic infrastructures are materially and discursively implicated in the construction of waterscapes at different scales to sustain broader political imaginaries. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and with a focus on the autonomous Region of Kurdistan in Iraq, the analysis juxtaposes the narratives deployed by state- and non-state actors to support or counter the development of additional dams. While, on the one hand, the Kurdistan Regional Government portrays hydraulic infrastructures as a vital source of security and well-being within the overarching nationalist narrative of Kurdish self-determination, on the other hand, transnational civil society groups under the umbrella of the Save the Tigris and Iraqi Marshes Campaign have mobilized against the adverse impact of megaprojects and appealed to the common Mesopotamian heritage in order to de-escalate political tensions within the transboundary river basin. In both cases, hydraulic infrastructures provide a framework for political action to secure recognition of rights and assert the appropriate scale of governance. Furthermore, bottom-up resistance is accompanied by the promotion of a participatory and inclusive approach to shared waters. From this perspective, the spatial politics of megaprojects intersect with issues of identity, equity, and sustainability.

中文翻译：

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“正义的天平。底格里斯河-幼发拉底河盆地的大型水坝和水权”

本文探讨了与底格里斯河-幼发拉底河盆地大型水利基础设施的自上而下规划相关的规模政治。在日益恶化的水资源危机和沿岸国家之间缺乏合作的背景下，跨界河流系统的大坝和水库成为争夺日益减少和有争议资源的竞争场所。借鉴人文地理学对规模政治和大型项目文献的后结构主义见解，本文认为，水利基础设施在物质上和话语上都与不同规模的水景建设有关，以维持更广泛的政治想象。基于民族志实地调查，重点关注伊拉克库尔德斯坦自治区，该分析将国家和非国家行为者为支持或反对增建水坝而采用的说法并置。一方面，库尔德斯坦地区政府在库尔德人自决的总体民族主义叙事中将水利基础设施描述为安全和福祉的重要来源，另一方面，拯救组织保护伞下的跨国民间社会团体底格里斯河和伊拉克沼泽运动动员起来反对大型项目的不利影响，并呼吁美索不达米亚的共同遗产，以缓和跨界河流域内的政治紧张局势。在这两种情况下，水利基础设施都为政治行动提供了一个框架，以确保对权利的承认并维护适当的治理规模。此外，自下而上的抵制伴随着对共享水域的参与性和包容性方法的推广。从这个角度来看，大型项目的空间政治与身份、公平和可持续性问题交织在一起。