M.A. in International Water Governance and Water Diplomacy

The three-semester MA program in International Water Governance and Water Diplomacy, starting September 2024, offers up-to-date, practice-oriented education for practicing and future water managers, diplomats, national and international civil servants engaged in transboundary or global environmental issues. Based on a blend of natural and social sciences, extensive field training, and project-based teamwork, the program is aimed to enable students to master complex water policy challenges, decisions, and conflict situations. Duration: 3 semester-long full-time degree program (120 ECTS).

Duration: 3 semester-long full-time degree program (120 ECTS).

Why study International Water Governance and Water Diplomacy?

While water war theories have been a popular feature of international politics for decades, reality shows that even bitter interstate tensions surrounding water tend to become a source of cooperation rather than conflict. The potent megatrends of our era, such as demographic change, urbanization, or climate change, however, create new pressures on how countries manage water domestically and in their international relations. Scientific consensus suggests that the current water crisis is a crisis of governance. Therefore, the root of the problem does not necessarily lie in the limited availability of water. Instead, how laws, policies, and financial decisions on the water are made, implemented, and followed up by government and society. Such challenges surface with even greater force in an intestate context where the action or inaction of a country may give rise to disproportionate negative impacts on the water resources available to others. Consequently, the knowledge of how to prevent, manage, and resolve water conflicts at the domestic and international level will be a critical asset for the prosperity and stability of any nation in the 21st century.

The Ludovika University of Public Service and water

The Ludovika University of Public Service has been conceived as a comprehensive school of government encompassing all major fields of modern state management: public administration, defense, law enforcement, and diplomacy. The Ludovika University of Public Service Faculty of Water Sciences also boasts Hungary’s oldest higher education institution dedicated to water, located in the cities of Baja and Budapest on the banks of the river Danube. In recent years, the Faculty has significantly expanded its research and educational activities, reaching out to water's political, policy, legal, and institutional dimensions. Importantly, the Faculty also serves as the official retraining institution of the Hungarian water authorities, offering students unique access to the daily practice of water management in the broader Danube basin. The MA program, which specializes in water governance, was developed by the Faculty’s Department of Water and Environmental Policy, located in Budapest.