Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>The unresolved water-sharing crisis over the transboundary Teesta River remains a critical bilateral issue for Bangladesh and India due to India’s upstream water control and domestic political complexity. In response, the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project (TRCMRP), also known as the ‘Teesta River Project’, has been a venture of the Bangladesh government since 2016 to resolve the water crisis on its side of the border. Despite having the scope to collaborate with China and India—each having signaled to finance and implement the project—no Bangladeshi government has taken a definitive decision to implement it. This research addresses why Bangladesh has been unable to leverage the Teesta River Project for the management of transboundary Teesta River water. Using qualitative primary and secondary data, this research employs the Neoclassical Realist theoretical framework to discuss the underlying factors behind Bangladesh’s foreign policy behavior and future trajectory regarding the Teesta River water management in the context of the Teesta River Project issue. This study found that the long stalled bilateral Teesta water-sharing treaty with asymmetrical power relation between Bangladesh and India led the leadership of Bangladesh to initiate the Teesta River Project as a potential alternative response. Bangladesh’s strong partnership with China and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provided a potential pathway to address the water crisis independent of Indian cooperation. Bangladesh’s decision on the issue is influenced by systemic factor like Sino-Indian geopolitics. This however differ in domestic political approach in Bangladesh—where Hasina government potentially inclined to India-backed Teesta project, the interim government maintained balancing between India and China. The BNP government, on the contrary, shows its intention to implement the Project with Chinese partnership. Together, these findings suggest that while Teesta River Project represents a potential alternative to resolve the Teesta river water crisis, Bangladesh government’s policy regarding the project’s trajectory ultimately render on leadership’s domestic political will and a well-calculated foreign policy course.</p>