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This thesis investigates the construction of the discourse of water scarcity in Jordan. First, it identifies the actors constructing the discourse, their interests, and the elements comprising the discourse. Second, it examines the effects of the deployment of the discourse of water scarcity on policy-options, analysing the solutions opened and closed by the discourse in the national water strategy. Third, it explores the effects of the deployment of the discourse on transboundary water governance, as well as what other factors shape Jordanian-Syrian, Jordanian-Israeli, and Jordanian-Saudi hydropolitical relations. The study is important and makes an original empirical contribution because while the issue of water scarcity in Jordan has been widely researched, it has been done mainly from an engineering perspective, the discourse of water scarcity has been taken for granted, and studies on an in depth discursive analysis of the issue of water scarcity in Jordan are still missing. Moreover, a study on the relation between the deployment of the discourse of water scarcity and transboundary water governance in the case of Jordan is still lacking. Research undertaken in other contexts on this topic shows that discourses are being deployed to sanction and open certain solutions rather than others. It also shows that policies are designed and implemented in line with dominant discourses. The main methods of data collection are documentation - including reports, academic articles, and newspapers - as well as semi-structured interviews with relevant individuals involved in the construction and reproduction of the discourse. Interviews are deployed also to collect …