http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=37325 Record Details Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=37325 http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/showRecord.php?RecordId=37325 Transboundary rivers may contribute to increased hostility between riparians. This may contribute to increased hostility between riparians. This article accepts earlier arguments about water scarcity. Structural Scarcity occurs in river basins with unequal resource distribution, often created by geographic asymmetries. Hence, this article argues that the geographic asymmetries present in many river basins are key determinants of conflict risk among riparians. In a river basin the upstream state enjoys an inherent advantage and upstream river use is likely to produce unidirectional externalities that harm the states downstream. This in turn, is likely to produce grievances or claims downstream that may contribute to worsen overall state relations and consequently increase the risk of dyadic conflict. University of Oslo // Centre for the Study of Civil War // Peace Research Institute Oslo