Does water shortage incentivize cooperation? Case studies suggests that water scarcity can rarely, if at all, explain violence, instead such shortages rather facilitate cooperative actions around water. Another major argument from qualitative research holds that water scarcity and armed conflict often occur side by side. These insights have rarely been tested empirically across cases on a sub-national level. Earlier quantitative work instead focused on basin or state level interactions. This article fills these gaps by using disaggregated data to analyze the effect of water scarcity on incidences of domestic water cooperation. Using event data covering the Mediterranean area and Northern Africa (1997–2009), this article first shows that water-related actions, cooperative or conflictual, in general are more frequent in water scarce areas. Second, the analysis demonstrates that water cooperation occurs in areas with difficult access to groundwater and with a history of violence. Third, the findings suggest that the relationship between water scarcity and water cooperation is conditional on levels of democracy. The presented results also differ depending on whether state or non-state actors collaborate in domestic water initiatives. Taken together, these findings provide crucial insights to our understanding of environmental peacebuilding and water security.

缺水会刺激合作吗？案例研究表明，水的稀缺几乎无法解释暴力，相反，这种短缺反而促进了围绕水的合作行动。定性研究的另一个主要论点认为，水资源短缺和武装冲突经常并存。这些洞见很少在地方以下各级的案例中进行过经验检验。相反，较早的定量工作集中在流域或州一级的相互作用。本文通过使用分类数据来分析缺水对家庭用水合作发生率的影响，填补了这些空白。本文使用涵盖地中海地区和北非（1997-2009）的事件数据，首先表明，在缺水地区，与水有关的合作或冲突行动通常更为频繁。第二，分析表明，水合作发生在难以获得地下水和有暴力历史的地区。第三，研究结果表明，水资源短缺与水合作之间的关系取决于民主水平。根据国家或非国家行为者在家庭用水计划中的合作，提出的结果也有所不同。综上所述，这些发现为我们对环境建设和平与水安全的理解提供了至关重要的见解。根据国家或非国家行为者在家庭用水计划中的合作，提出的结果也有所不同。综上所述，这些发现为我们对环境建设和平与水安全的理解提供了至关重要的见解。根据国家或非国家行为者在家庭用水计划中的合作，提出的结果也有所不同。综上所述，这些发现为我们对环境建设和平与水安全的理解提供了至关重要的见解。