The Mekong River is an important water source for the Southeast Asian states, shared among six riparian states. To meet the growing energy needs, Lao is constructing hydropower dams on the Mekong...Show moreThe Mekong River is an important water source for the Southeast Asian states, shared among six riparian states. To meet the growing energy needs, Lao is constructing hydropower dams on the Mekong mainstream which will have negative transboundary impacts. In this thesis, I focus on the absence of escalated inter-state conflict in the Mekong River Basin despite the disputed construction of hydropower dams on the Mekong mainstream. The question that I aim to answer is whether the Mekong River Commission (MRC) is accountable for the absence of escalated inter-state conflict despite the controversial construction of hydropower dams on the mainstream. I found that for the MRC to be accountable for the absence of escalated inter-state conflict, it should have applied issue linkage to settle the dispute, it should have settled the disputes through a dispute-settlement mechanism and it should have monitored the development of the river. I found that the MRC is not accountable for the absence of escalated inter-state conflict and maintenance of cooperation, because its dispute-settlement mechanism failed to settle the Xayaburi dispute and the MRC was not directly accountable for the issue linkages created. I conclude that another driving force must have been accountable for the absence of inter-state conflict.Show less
