ABSTRACT
This chapter presents and analyses the first of the two case studies, the Rogun Dam in Tajikistan. The dam is used to examine how state power is wielded in hydropolitics, and to identify and categorise the various counter-hegemonic tactics that Tajikistan has put in place to favour its construction and fulfil its hydraulic mission. The focus is placed on the acrimonious regional debate triggered by the revitalisation of the project in the 2000s, which led to the framing of the dam as a matter of foreign policy, and, as it will be shown, also a matter of national pride.
