Ashok Swain

Professor of Peace and Conflict Research
Uppsala University Department of Peace and Conflict Research
Sweden

Apr 7, 2020

Ashok Swain is a professor at Uppsala University, where he also serves as the Director of the Research School of International Water Cooperation. His work focuses on peace and conflict, environmental security, and cooperation over water. Since 2017, he has been the UNESCO Chair of International Water Cooperation, the first UNESCO chair at Uppsala University. He earned his Ph.D. in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi in 1991. His post-doctoral research at Uppsala focused on water migration and conflict in India and Bangladesh, through which Ashok saw important interconnections between environmental management and environmental cooperation, especially with respect to bilateral and regional cooperation. He has held positions as a MacArthur Fellow at the University of Chicago, visiting fellow at UN Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva, and visiting professor at the University of Witwatersrand, University of British Columbia, and Stanford University, to name a few. He has also worked as a consultant for NATO, the EU, OXFAM, Arab League, the Governments of Sweden, the Netherlands, UK, and Singapore, and various UN agencies.

Through his three decades of cutting-edge research, Ashok has made crucial contributions to the field of environmental peacebuilding and paved the way for future researchers and practitioners to study the potential for cooperation over water resources. Much of his work focuses on water diplomacy, often called hydro-diplomacy, which examines how water can be managed to foster cooperation and how contentious issues related to water can be resolved. His work on water has spanned different countries and continents, creating linkages across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Much of his current work, looks at the intersection of water and migration, interrogating how water scarcity and water development projects affect migration, and how migration affects and exacerbates water issues in various areas. He has been focusing on the Aral Sea, Nile Basin, and Indus Basin, more recently examining ways that climate change could impact water diplomacy and sharing in those areas. His research emphasizes the need for institutional cooperative frameworks and multi-level diplomacy in adequately addressing the connections between development, water, conflict, and peace.

Ashok suggests that water provides an important entryway for further study on how natural resources can contribute to cooperation. He explains, “When you use water in a more sustainable or judicious manner, you can avoid making new conflicts.” While water is often a focus of his work, he has often addressed a broader range of natural resources and environmental issues, particularly as they relate to peace and conflict. He recently co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Conflict and Peacebuilding (with Joakim Öjendal), which features many important contributions from researchers and practitioners on environment, conflict, and peace. This handbook is one of the 2019 winners of the Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award (American Library Association).   

Ashok emphasizes that environmental peacebuilding is a framework that is especially helpful for policy-making. He observes, “In post-conflict situations, we often try to make economic growth go faster at the cost of ignoring environmental sustainability. We need to consider how the environment can contribute to making peace sustainable, as well as incorporating environmental concerns into post-conflict policies.” As a long-time and prolific researcher in this field, Ashok underscores the need for more robust research on the connections between environment and peace to decrease reliance on anecdotal research. He also emphasizes the importance of evidence-based policy. The Association provides a space for researchers and policymakers to build this evidence base and create connections.