Hydrological hegemony and U.S. strategic engagement in climate and water security

Abstract As a dominant global power, the United States plays a central role in shaping how climate change and water insecurity are governed through foreign policy, development assistance, and security engagement, with significant implications for migration and human security. This article examines how U.S. foreign policy navigates the intersection of strategic interests, humanitarian imperatives, and environmental stress in water-scarce regions. Using a qualitative, comparative case study approach across South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, the study analyzes U.S. policy documents, international agreements, and secondary sources through an integrated framework of human security, securitization, realism, and liberal internationalism. The findings reveal a patterned duality in U.S. engagement: water security is instrumentalized to advance geopolitical objectives, such as alliance management, regional stability, and strategic competition, while simultaneously framed through humanitarian and development initiatives aimed at resilience building. This dual logic shapes migration outcomes by prioritizing crisis management over structural governance reform and constrains the evolution of cooperative frameworks for transboundary water management and climate-related displacement. By foregrounding U.S. hydrological influence as an extra-basin actor, the study contributes to debates on hydro-politics, environmental securitization, and human security in International Relations in the context of the Anthropocene.