Hussam Hussein
(PhD)
I am a Departmental Lecturer and Oxford Martin Fellow in International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) at the University of Oxford, member of the Middle East Centre, and Fulford Junior Research Fellow at Somerville College.
I obtained my PhD degree from the School of International Development, University of East Anglia. My PhD thesis investigated the discourse of water scarcity in the case of Jordan, and its impacts on transboundary water governance. After the PhD, I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the American University of Beirut, investigating hydropolitics in the Levant region, and as a Research Associate at the University of Kassel working on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Mediterranean Region.
My fieldwork has been funded by the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), the Arab Council for Social Sciences (ACSS), and by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). My research focuses on the role of discourses in shaping water policies in the Middle East, on transboundary water governance and critical hydropolitics, and on issues related to the political economy of water resources in arid and semi-arid regions. I am a Visiting Fellow of the Water Security Research Centre – School of International Development of the University of East Anglia (UK). I obtained my BA and MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Trieste – Gorizia (Italy), studied Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS, University of London, and obtained an MA in Interdisciplinary European Studies from the College of Europe.
In addition to my academic work, I have worked on issues of sustainable development and environmental governance for the Italian Embassy in Jordan, the European Parliament, the International Finance Corporation - Wold Bank, UNICEF, and BGR.
Research Interests
My research focuses on:
- Hydropolitics (transboundary water governance, conflict and cooperation over shared water resources)
- Role of discourses and narratives in IR
- Construction of (water) scarcities
- Climate change politics
Environment and Climate ChangeTeaching
- MPhil in IR core course “The Development of the International System and Contemporary Debates in International Relations Theory”
- UG in PPE course: “211 Politics in the Middle East”
Publications
Journal article
- Al-Saidi, M, Hussein, H, (2021) 'The water-energy-food nexus and COVID-19: Towards a systematization of impacts and responses', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 779
- Al-Saidi, M, Hussein, H, (2021) 'The water-energy-food nexus and COVID-19: towards a systematization of impacts and responses', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 779
- Donoso, G, Barron, J, Uhlenbrook, S, Hussein, H, Choi, G, (2021) 'Science—policy engagement to achieve “water for society—including all”', Water, vol. 13 (3)
- Sandri, S, Hussein, H, Alshyab, N, (2020) 'Sustainability of the energy sector in Jordan: challenges and opportunities', Sustainability, vol. 122 (465) p1-24
- Liptrot, T, Hussein, H, (2020) 'Between regulation and targeted expropriation: rural-to-urban groundwater reallocation in Jordan', Water Alternatives, vol. 13 (3) p864-885
- Hussein, H, Conker, A, Grandi, M, (2020) 'Small is beautiful but not trendy: understanding the fallure of big hydraulic works in the Euphrates-Tigris and Nile waterscapes', Mediterranean Politics
- Eufemia, L, Hussein, H, (2020) 'How did the COVID-19 crisis relate to meeting global climate targets for 2020?', Future of Food, vol. 8 (2) p1-2
- Hussein, H, Conker, A, Grandi, M, (2020) 'Small is beautiful but not trendy: Understanding the allure of big hydraulic works in the Euphrates-Tigris and Nile waterscapes', Mediterranean Politics
- Hussein, H, Greco, F, (2020) 'How will the COVID-19 pandemic impact food security and virtual water “trade”?', Future of Food : Journal on Food, Agriculture and Society, vol. 8 (2)
- Riad, P, Graefe, S, Hussein, H, Buerkert, A, (2020) 'Landscape transformation processes in two large and two small cities in Egypt and Jordan over the last five decades using remote sensing data', Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 197 p103766-103766
- Hussein, H, Lambert, L, (2020) 'A rentier state under blockade: Qatar’s water-energy-food predicament from energy abundance and food insecurity to a silent water crisis', Water, vol. 12 (4)
- Hussein, H, Natta, A, Yehya, AAK, Hamadna, B, (2020) 'Syrian Refugees, Water Scarcity, and Dynamic Policies: How Do the New Refugee Discourses Impact Water Governance Debates in Lebanon and Jordan?', Water, vol. 12 (2) p325-325
- Conker, A, Hussein, H, (2019) 'Hydropolitics and issue-linkage along the Orontes River Basin: an analysis of the Lebanon–Syria and Syria–Turkey hydropolitical relations', International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics
- Talozi, S, Altz-Stamm, A, Hussein, H, Reich, P, (2019) 'What constitutes an equitable water share? A reassessment of equitable apportionment in the Jordan–Israel water agreement 25 years later', Water Policy, vol. 21 (5) p911-933
- Benedict, S, Hussein, H, (2019) 'An Analysis of Water Awareness Campaign Messaging in the Case of Jordan: Water Conservation for State Security', WATER, vol. 11 (6)
- Hussein, H, (2019) 'Yarmouk, Jordan, and Disi basins: Examining the impact of the discourse of water scarcity in Jordan on transboundary water governance', MEDITERRANEAN POLITICS, vol. 24 (3) p269-289
- Hussein, H, (2019) 'Water Politics in Jordan: Unpacking the Issue and Providing Policy Recommendations', Bulletin for the Council for British Research in the Levant, vol. 12 (1) p89-90
- Batista da Silva, LP, Hussein, H, (2019) 'Production of scale in regional hydropolitics: An analysis of La Plata River Basin and the Guarani Aquifer System in South America', GEOFORUM, vol. 99 p42-53
- Hussein, H, (2019) 'The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Nile Basin: implications for transboundary water cooperation', Water International, vol. 44 (1) p77-80
- Conker, A, Hussein, H, (2019) 'Hydraulic Mission at Home, Hydraulic Mission abroad? Examining Turkey's Regional 'Pax-Aquarum' and Its Limits', SUSTAINABILITY, vol. 11 (1)
- Odeh, T, Mohammad, AH, Hussein, H, Ismail, M, Almomani, T, (2019) 'Over-pumping of groundwater in Irbid governorate, northern Jordan: a conceptual model to analyze the effects of urbanization and agricultural activities on groundwater levels and salinity', ENVIRONMENTAL EARTH SCIENCES, vol. 78 (1)
- Hussein, H, (2018) 'Lifting the veil: Unpacking the discourse of water scarcity in Jordan', ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & POLICY, vol. 89 p385-392
- Hussein, H, Menga, F, Greco, F, (2018) 'Monitoring Transboundary Water Cooperation in SDG 6.5.2: How a Critical Hydropolitics Approach Can Spot Inequitable Outcomes', SUSTAINABILITY, vol. 10 (10)
- Hussein, H, (2018) 'Tomatoes, tribes, bananas, and businessmen: An analysis of the shadow state and of the politics of water in Jordan', ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & POLICY, vol. 84 p170-176
- Hussein, H, (2018) 'The Guarani Aquifer System, highly present but not high profile: A hydropolitical analysis of transboundary groundwater governance', ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & POLICY, vol. 83 p54-62
- Mohammad, AH, Jung, HC, Odeh, T, Bhuiyan, C, Hussein, H, (2018) 'Understanding the impact of droughts in the Yarmouk Basin, Jordan: monitoring droughts through meteorological and hydrological drought indices', ARABIAN JOURNAL OF GEOSCIENCES, vol. 11 (5)
- Hussein, H, (2018) 'A critique of water scarcity discourses in educational policy and textbooks in Jordan', JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION, vol. 49 (3) p260-271
- Hussein, H, (2017) 'Whose ‘reality’? Discourses and hydropolitics along the Yarmouk River', Contemporary Levant, vol. 2 (2) p103-115
- Hussein, H, (2017) 'Land and hydropolitics in the Nile River Basin: challenges and new investments', International Journal of Water Resources Development, vol. 33 (4) p680-682
- Smith, SL, Allentuck, A, Martin, L, Roe, J, Jones, M, Richter, T, Rollefson, G, Hussein, H, Longford, C, Reynolds, K, Mller-Neuhof, B, Bewley, R, Kennedy, D, Banks, R, (2015) 'Long-term Landscape, Environment and Climate Change Studies, from the Past through to Predictive Models for Future Developments', Bulletin for the Council for British Research in the Levant, vol. 10 (1) p65-82