Prof. Ben Boer’s new book published overseas

Recently, the new book “The Mekong: A Socio-legal Approach to River Basin Development”, of which first author is Professor Ben Boer, was published by internationally renowned Routledge Press.

The book applies its socio-legal analysis to bring a fresh approach to understanding conflicts surrounding water governance in the Mekong River Basin. The authors describe the wide range of uses being made of legal doctrine and legal argument in ongoing disputes surrounding hydropower development in the Basin, putting to rest lingering caricatures of a single, “ASEAN” way of navigating conflict. They call into question some of the common assumptions concerning the relationship between law and development. The book also sheds light on important questions concerning the global hybridization or crossover of public and private power and its ramifications for water governance. With current debates and looming conflicts over water governance globally, and over shared rivers in particular, these issues could not be more pressing.

This is Prof. Ben Boer’s another book published by well-known publishing house overseas, following the book “Environment Law Dimensions of Human Rights” by Oxford University Press in the first half of 2015. This book's publication further consolidated and expanded RIEL’s visibility and influence in the world, and had an important significance for RIEL’s construction of world-class disciplines.