Introduction

This chapter describes the evolution of cooperation and conflict on the Danube. The riparian interactions on the Danube River Basin are presented from the complexity and water security perspectives by highlighting the factors that served to create and sustain cooperation and make governance structures more effective. The emphasis is on contextspecific negotiation that translates into agreements or treaties and establishes institutions and mechanisms capable of addressing new problems when they emerge. An overview of the Danube basin, including the history of interactions among countries sharing the Danube, provides the basis of the key agreements and treaties and their evolution over time. The historical account of riparian interactions is important to understand the process of negotiated cooperation that forms the bases for the regional mechanisms and policy statements which guide the functioning of governance structures and management practices for collective response to the challenges of governing the Danube.

The Danube River Protection Convention is the primary agreement that guides riparian interactions and has provided the genesis for its key governing structure—the International Committee for the Protection of Danube River (ICPDR). The complexity and water security issues on the Danube emerged from the disparities of riparian countries, their socioeconomic standing and their reliance on Danube to provide several services. This chapter describes how the riparian interactions for managing the Danube waters show the presence of specific enabling conditions that have contributed to collective action for effective governance. These include: (i) active recognition by its riparians of their mutual interdependencies and the importance of finding means to reflect the interests of various stakeholder groups; (ii) promoting joint fact finding to inform planning processes; and (iii) adapting governing structures to oversee implementation and address emergent problems by adopting new policy instruments such as the EU Water Framework Directive and OECD Water Governance Principles.

The history of riparian interactions on Danube is extensive and has shaped their cooperation and conflict through several historical events leading up to World War II. What emerged as the Danubian approach to cooperation is based on stakeholder participation, regular information sharing and an open recognition of political and economic interests of the countries sharing this river.