Navigating Climate Commitments and Power Politics: An IR Perspective on Nepal’s Hydropower Development

The international energy shift has become a characteristic of the twenty-first century international relations and has formed new trends of interdependence and power. In the case of small states such as Nepal, renewable energy, especially hydropower, is a potential source of sustainable development as well as a tool of diplomacy. This chapter examines the way Nepal balances between climate commitments, geopolitical pressures and regional power politics in its hydropower policy. Using the Complex Interdependence Theory and the ideas of environmental politics, the paper will explore the way in which energy cooperation and competition in South Asia can be used to identify larger trends of dependency, negotiation and environmental vulnerability. The chapter is based on secondary literature, policy reports and recent empirical data and argues that hydropower is not only a resource of development but also an instrument of statecraft that embodies the efforts of Nepal to strike a balance between sovereignty, sustainability and strategic relevance. The result underscores the fact that the experience of Nepal underscores the possibilities of renewable energy diplomacy as a way of small states to increase their visibility and resilience in an interconnected world.