ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the politics of water and the interplay between depoliticisation, technocracy and peacebuilding. Water scarcity is often framed with a dual emphasis on the conflictual and cooperative dimensions. Hence, water is an important and prioritised area of environmental peacebuilding. The chapter analyses the problematic effects of technocracy in water development and peacebuilding. It elaborates the general patterns of depoliticisation in policy and practice of environmental peacebuilding. The liberal peacebuilding paradigm can also be traced to some broad agreements among liberal states, multilateral organisations and western NGOs. The chapter discusses three remarks: First, technocracy tends to be perceived among policy makers and practitioners as an impartial and less controversial way of resolving conflict. Second, the tendency to exclude politics may prevent alternative ideas and practices of water management. Third, the technocratic turn in peacebuilding may empower some actors while marginalising others.
