water, politics, hydropolitics, crisis, public policy

One of the most serious issues facing humanity is the water crisis that requires systematic and immediate action. It has been addressed from different viewpoints across academic disciplines. In this paper, the most important dimensions between water and some areas of human sciences and sociology of humans are highlighted. The question of the role of water upon human life, its effects on the processes of civilization, and subsequently how the lack of water effects the relations between people, nations, and civilizations are the focus of this article. Likewise, it clarifies the problems through quantitative analysis. The conceptual focus of this paper is on the relationship between water and politics in Iran and the Middle East. After a literature of review, it demonstrates how water crisis can finally change the essence of ‘the politics’ tremendously while turning civilization into primitivism. Empirical facts such as water and war, or water and violence are used to support this claim. The paper concludes that water should be the subject for trans-disciplinary research. Its outcome, as a ‘problem identification’, paves the way for public policy to manage comprehensive plans and to cope with this huge crisis.