AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Melissa J. McCracken for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography presented on October 30, 2019. Title: It Depends: Defining Cooperation and Evaluating Effectiveness in Transboundary Waters. Abstract approved: ______________________________________________________ Aaron T. Wolf With the increasing international focus on transboundary cooperation as a part of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Framework, there is global recognition of transboundary water cooperation as a tool for improved governance and management of transboundary surface and groundwaters. Yet, there is not an agreed upon definition of transboundary water cooperation in the literature. Most measures of transboundary water cooperation focus on agreements, particularly the number of agreements or their content. However, this generally does not measure or capture how actors behave in a cooperative process, nor whether the behavior had the intended consequences or outcomes (Daoudy and Kistin 2008). Therefore, we need further research on measures of the quality and outcomes of cooperative processes. This dissertation addresses these gaps by achieving three goals. First, it identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology for SDG Indicator 6.5.2. The SDG Indicator 6.5.2 aims to measure “the proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation” (UN-Water 2017). It does this by comparing the UN-Water methodology to two other variations for measuring transboundary water cooperation. The comparison of the results from the three methods illustrates the variability in what is considered transboundary water cooperation. The second goal is to develop a clear, consistent, and representative definition of transboundary water cooperation. This goal proved challenging in that a statement-style definition of transboundary water cooperation has many limitations. Notably, they are broad and non-specific, which makes them less applicable to the variety of forms cooperation can take in basins and aquifers. Therefore, I develop the Four Frames of Cooperation, which is a neutral modular framework for developing context-specific explanatory definitions of transboundary water cooperation in basins and aquifers. The Four Frames of Cooperation are legal, institutional, relational, and outcome. The Four Frames of Cooperation framework forms the foundation for the third goal of this dissertation, which is to define effective transboundary water cooperation and operationalize a method to evaluate the effectiveness of cooperative processes over internationally shared waters. Overall, effective cooperation emphasizes the relational and outcome frames of cooperation, while working towards equitability and sustainability, which is operationalized by the Weighted Model of Effective Cooperation. This model has three stages: parameters, assessment, and evaluation, and together, they present a context-specific model for evaluating the effectiveness of transboundary water cooperation. This model presents a first step in qualitatively evaluating the effectiveness of transboundary water cooperation. Together, the Four Frames of Cooperation and the Weighted Model of Effective Cooperation aim to improve the understanding of cooperation and encourage a detailed evaluation of the quality, success, and effectiveness of cooperative processes. ©Copyright by Melissa J. McCracken October 30, 2019 All Rights Reserved It Depends: Defining Cooperation and Evaluating Effectiveness in Transboundary Waters by Melissa J. McCracken A DISSERTATION submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Presented October 30, 2019 Commencement June 2020 Doctor of Philosophy dissertation of Melissa J. McCracken presented on October 30, 2019 APPROVED: Major Professor, representing Geography Dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my dissertation will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my dissertation to any reader upon request. Melissa J. McCracken, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing a dissertation and completing a Ph.D. is a solitary task; however, there is no way a person can undertake it without the support of friends, family, and colleagues. There are three people whom I want to thank first. Without them, this dissertation would not have been possible: Dr. Ben Timms, Dr. Mark Zeitoun, and Dr. Aaron T. Wolf. Ben, thank you for introducing me to the world of geography and academia and allowing me to escape engineering and explore the world. Mark, your class at UEA opened my eyes to the world of water and water cooperation. Thank you for encouraging me to dive headfirst. Ben and Mark, I am further grateful to you both; you have continued to support and offer guidance to me as I have progressed from degree to degree while applying to jobs and writing this dissertation. To my Ph.D. advisor, Aaron, I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to work with you on this dissertation and as Manager of the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database. Your guidance, advice, support, and mentorship has helped me to grow into the researcher and academic, I am becoming. I know that you will always be my advocate, and your confidence in my abilities motivates me to do my best. I would also like to express my gratitude to my full committee, Prof. Dan Tarlock, Dr. Michael Campana, Dr. David Bernell, and Dr. Desiree Tullos, as well as my unofficial committee member Dr. Demian Hommel. Dan, thank you for taking on the challenge of mentoring a graduate student to write a Technical Background Paper for the Global Water Partnership and shaping an entire dissertation in the process. Michael, thank you for your unwavering support and for introducing me to your wife, who helped me indulge my horseback riding habit. David, I appreciate your critical perspective and for helping me to grasp political science theories in my dissertation. Desiree, thank you for your support as the Graduate Council Representative to make sure the process has run smoothly. Demian, I am grateful for our meetings and discussions on theory and methodology, these have definitely strengthened my dissertation. I am also grateful for the friendship and advice from Lynette de Silva and Dr. Todd Jarvis. I truly appreciate and enjoy our conversations. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me about my work and this dissertation, your advice is always appreciated! Thank you also to the OSU staff, who are always there to answer questions and talk plants! Thank you, Robert Allan, Lori Hartline, Stacey Schulte, Renee Freeman, and Biana Weatherford, this place would not run without you! This dissertation would not have been possible without the generosity of the 54 people that allowed me to interview them. While I cannot address each person individually here, I am deeply grateful for them being so open and willing to share their knowledge and experience. Not only this, but for their enthusiasm and support of my research. This just reinforces what I already knew about the transboundary water world, which is that it is a group of amazing supportive people! I am also grateful for the financial support of the Sasakawa Young Leadership Fellowship Fund (Sylff), American Association of Geographers Water Resources Specialty Group, and the Geography Program for funding my research and my degree. I am also indebted to Angela Klauschen, who took me on as an intern at the Global Water Partnership and gave me the idea to work on evaluating SDG Indicator 6.5.2, which essentially started this whole dissertation idea! I also want to thank everyone who has helped and supported the CEOAS Professional Learning Community and the Unpacking Diversity discussion series. Melva, Ale, and I could not have created this without your support. Specifically, I want to thank Jane Waite and Dr. Tuba Ozkan-Haller. The two of you have done so much for me personally, as well as Melva and Ale. I hope you know how much we appreciate it. To Adrienne Chan, Jenn Wong-Ala, Thi Truong, and Chris Cosgrove, thank you for joining in and becoming such supportive friends along the way. I want to thank my friends and family further. To my friends at OSU, thank you for the support, friendship, good food, good times, and all-around being the best part of this program. I specifically want to thank Melva Treviño Peña, Dacotah Splichalova, Kate Jones, Ale Sanchez-Ríos, Laura Peters, and Jane Darbyshire. Seriously, you all are the best; there are no words to thank you enough and to express how much you mean to me. Jane, thank you for taking on the challenge of reading and editing this entire dissertation. Not only did I enjoy reading your comments, I seriously could not have finished this dissertation without you. Finally, thank you to my parents, who have always supported me, even when I don’t call them as much as they’d like. I wouldn’t be who I am or be able to have accomplished what I have accomplished without them. To my in-law family, thank you for taking me in as a daughter and sister. Lastly, I want to thank Danny and Odin. Odin, thanks for making me take you on walks during the day so that I didn’t become stuck to my desk chair permanently, although I hope you eventually stop chewing and barking so much! Danny, my husband, thank you for being you, for supporting me every step of the way, especially for sitting with me and