International Affairs

Upstream states of the Nile Basin have come a long way in the process of establishing a basin based on equitability and fairness. For long, despite the Nile is shared between eleven riparian states, the Basin was characterized by the domination and self-claimed hegemony of Egypt which in 1959 appropriate the entire flow of the Nile with Sudan. Among others, Ethiopia which is the source of more than 86 percent of the annual flow of the Nile River was neither invited nor consulted when this agreement was negotiated and signed. The same is true for other upstream states because they were under the yoke of colonialism. Nonetheless, upstream states have tried their best to change this inequitable situation by installing the Cooperative Framework Agreement-CFA which is a framework to establish a regime based on the equitable and reasonable utilization and management of the Nile waters by all riparian states. The role that Ethiopia has played in shaping the hydropolitics of the Nile has a paramount importance. In this regard, Ethiopia has moved from an observer to a game changer. Hence, what are the manifestations ofEthiopiàs role in the Nile Basin cooperation? What makesEthiopiàs role stronger in transforming the Nile Basin from a zero-sum game to a win-win situation? What are the benchmarks that Ethiopia set in establishing the New Nile Basin? What is the way forward in the Nile Basin? The objective of this paper, therefore, lies on answering these questions to shed light on what is achieved so far and what could be foreseen about the future in the Basin.

The Nile Basin has been experiencing process of dramatic changes since the middle of the 1990s which opens a new chapter in the hydropolitics of the Nile. Two most important features the signing and ratification of the CFA andEthiopiàs ongoing construction of the GERD characterize the hydropolitics of the Nile Basin. These contemporary developments in the Basin are signals that the old game is waning and a new Nile basin that will benefit all its riparian states and their peoples equitably and reasonably is emerging. Firstly, this process of change is a result of years of water diplomacy which involves the negotiation of the riparian states to create a permanent Nile River basin organization based on a multilateral and basin wide binding Nile water treaty that could regulate the utilization and management of the Nile waters in the Basin. Secondly such a transition is also a result of the political decision which involves by a few upstream riparian states such as Ethiopia in undertaking mega hydraulic infrastructures on the Nile which was unthinkable a few years back. EspeciallyEthiopiàs mega dam GERD has an all-encompassing hydropolitical implication to the Nile Basin and is shaping the current and future hydropolitics of the Nile Basin despite not welcomed by Egypt. How is the different implications manifested on the Basin? These are the core questions that the article attempted to answer in order to understand contemporary issues pertaining to the GERD Project of Ethiopia on the Nile Basin and its implication to the future interactions between the riparian states and argued that the Dam is a benchmark in shaping the future of the Nile Basin in a way that benefits all the riparian states of the Nile.

The process of the EU budgeting well exemplifies the complexities of the organization.  This paper presents a brief historical overview of European integration, acquaints the reader with the key EU institutions, and then analyzes the actual budgetary structure and process of the Union, followed by a conclusion and a few policy recommendations.

In the European Union (EU), environmental regulations suffer from the higher rate of non-compliance than any other sector.  And yet, the understanding of what factors and conditions facilitate or impede compliance and how these factors shape variation in compliance across regulations and issue areas, is still not quite sufficient. Another feature of environmental governance concerns the growing importance of the role of informal/non-state actors, such as the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), industry actors, and the public. This research set out to uncover how environmental NGOs, as well as industry and business actors interact with the EU institutions and the domestic institutions, administration and legislature, to affect domestic environmental compliance with the EU directives. The role of public participation is also explored. Using the case of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) directive in Latvia and Belgium, this research investigates the effects of these actors upon the environmental compliance in the EU; how these effects vary across compliance stages; and what domestic member-state factors account for these effects.