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Contested Powers

Contested Powers

John-Andrew McNeish | Axel Borchgrevink | Owen Logan

(2015)

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Abstract

In the global North the commoditization of creativity and knowledge under the banner of a creative economy is being posed as the post-industrial answer to dependency on labour and natural resources. Not only does it promise a more stable and sustainable future, but an economy focused on intellectual property is more environmentally friendly, so it is suggested.

Contested Powers argues that the fixes being offered by this model are bluffs; development as witnessed in Latin American energy politics and governance remains hindered by a global division of labour and nature that puts the capacity for technological advancement in private hands. The authors call for a multi-layered understanding of sovereignty, arguing that it holds the key to undermining rigid accounts of the relationship between carbon and democracy, energy and development, and energy and political expression. Furthermore, a critical focus on energy politics is crucial to wider debates on development and sustainability.

Contested Powers is essential reading for those wondering how energy resources are converted into political power and why we still value the energy we take from our surroundings more than the means of its extraction.


'Combining penetrating case studies with a theoretically insightful broader analysis of the meanings, contradictions and global significance of recent development processes in Latin America, this landmark collection constructively critiques conventional wisdom while offering fresh ways of understanding the political complexity created by different kinds of claims to sovereignty.'
John Gledhill, University of Manchester, and author of The New War on the Poor

'This collection of case studies from Latin America challenges neoliberal ideology by demonstrating the pivotal role of energy in political struggles within and between nation-states in our unequal world.'
Alf Hornborg, Lund University

'With this irrefutable volume, McNeish, Borchgrevink and Logan have taken us a long way towards the elusive goal of a post-carbon age.'
Arturo Escobar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

'An incisive and theoretically sophisticated set of studies into the highly contentious relationship between energy and development. This is a signal contribution to our understanding of the politics of energy in Latin America.'
Tom Perreault, Syracuse University


John-Andrew McNeish is associate professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and senior researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI). His research focuses on indigenous politics and participation in resource politics and governance. McNeish has authored and co-authored a number of publications, including Flammable Societies: Studies on the Socio-Economics of Oil and Gas (2012), Gender Justice and Legal Pluralities: Latin American and African Perspectives (2013), and Indigenous Peoples and Poverty: An International Perspective (Zed Books, 2005). He is currently carrying out research for the Norwegian Research Council-funded Extracting Justice project.

Axel Borchgrevink is associate professor at Oslo and Akershus University College (HIOA). He is an anthropologist who has considerable international consultancy experience and has worked on a range of development issues in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He is a former co-editor of the journal Forum for Development Studies, and his book Clean and Green: Knowledge and Morality in a Philippine Farming Community was published in 2014.

Owen Logan is a photographer and research fellow at the University of Aberdeen, where he worked closely with the ‘Lives in the Oil Industry’ oral history project. Between 2007 and 2014 he was a contributing editor to Variant magazine and is co-editor with John Andrew McNeish of Flammable Societies: Studies on the Socio-Economics of Oil and Gas (2012). His work as a photographer has been widely exhibited and his images are in several public collections, including the Scottish Parliament. In connection with the Contested Powers project he co-curated, with Kirsten Lloyd, the exhibition The King’s Peace: Realism and War at the Stills Gallery in Edinburgh in 2014.


Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Front Cover Front cover
About the Editors i
Title Page iii
Copyright iv
Contents v
Tables and Figures vii
Map viii
1: Introduction: Recovering Power from Energy – Reconsidering the Linkages Between Energy and Development 1
Introduction 2
Resource Sovereignties 3
Contested Powers in Latin America 9
A Politics of Renewables 13
Beyond National and Regional Borders 14
Development, Modernity and Power 16
An Anthropology of Energy? 20
Critical Institutionalism 24
Critical Perspectives on the Energetic State 28
The Story of This Book 30
Notes 35
References 36
2: Oil Extraction and Territorial Disputes in the Maya Biosphere Reserve 40
Post-War Guatemala 41
The Political History of Mining 43
Laguna Del Tigre: A Strategic Territory 46
The Xan Oil Well 49
Population and Land Occupation 50
Interest Groups and Social Conflict 51
Creating Favourable Public Opinion 53
Oil Contracts to the Detriment of National Interests 55
The Controversial Role of the State 58
The Consequences 59
Final Reflections 60
Notes 62
References 64
Webpages 65
3: Gracias A Díos Y Al Gobierno: Electric Power Struggles in Nicaraguan Politics 66
Background: Nicaragua, State, Society and Electricity 67
Electric Power to the People 72
Changing Opportunities for Popular Protest 82
Conclusion 86
Notes 89
References 90
4: Wind at the Margins of the State: Autonomy and Renewable Energy Development in Southern Mexico 92
Oaxacan Wind Power at a Crossroads 92
An Anthropology of Failure 96
In the Fading Light of the Black Sun 98
Capturing the Meter 103
Rescuing the Land from the Wind 105
On Fish and Neoliberalism 108
Conclusions: Downed Windmills 110
Notes 113
References 114
5: Oil and Environmental Injustice in Venezuela: An Ethnographic Study of Punta Cardón 116
Introduction 116
Before the Arrival of the Oil Company 118
The First Contact with Oil People 119
The Attraction of ‘Black Gold’ 121
Environmental and Social Impacts 121
Dialogue of the Deaf 123
Punta Cardón in the 1980s and 1990s 124
Punta Cardón Today 126
The Environmental Situation Today 127
Diverging Epistemologies 128
Memories Discarded 128
Blaming the Fishermen 130
The Politics of Payouts 132
Punta Cardón and the Bolivarian Revolution 134
Conclusion 135
Notes 137
References 139
6: ‘Everything Moves with Fuel’: Energy Politics and the Smuggling of Energy Resources 141
Introduction 141
Politics and Prices 143
Protests and Responses 145
Contraband 149
The Social Embeddedness of Cross-Border Trade 157
Conclusions 164
Notes 165
References 166
7: The Continuous Negotiation of the Authority of Oil- and Gas-Dependent States: The Case of Bolivia 167
The Theoretical Ground – Power, Institutions and Agency 170
Public Policies in Countries Dependent on Non-Renewable Natural Resources 173
Hydrocarbon Policy and Revenue Redistribution Mechanisms in Bolivia 175
The Gasolinazo and Government Justifications for Reducing Fuel Subsidies 178
The Violent Social Reaction to the Reduction in Fuel Subsidies 183
Conclusions: Power, Sovereignty and Epistemology 189
Notes 191
References 192
8: Passive Revolution? Social and Political Struggles Surrounding Brazil’s New-Found Oil Reservoirs 195
Introduction 195
Lulismo – The Sub-Proletariat and the President 198
‘The Petroleum Has to Be Ours’ 201
‘The Royalties Have to Be Ours’ 205
‘The Petroleum Is a Threat to Sustainability’ 208
The Fate of the Three Initiatives and Lulismo – After the June 2013 protests 210
Notes 214
References 215
9: Doing Well in the Eyes of Capital: Cultural Transformation from Venezuela to Scotland 216
Introduction 217
The Victory of El Sistema and Its Claims 224
Critical Perspectives on Culture and Crime 236
Conclusion: What Harm Can It Do? 243
Coda 247
Notes 249
References 251
10: Latin America Transformed? 254
Introduction 254
Energetic Development in Latin America 256
What If Latin America Did Not Rule the World? 258
Rage Along the Road to Development 262
A Magnified Flashpoint 265
Resource Sovereignty 269
Political and Economic Limitations on Epistemological Development 271
Epistemological Limitations of Political Economic Development 275
Latin America Transformed? 279
Conclusions 283
Notes 285
References 287
11: From the King’s Peace to Transition Society 291
Introduction 291
From Dirty Wars to Civil Peace 293
Patrimonial Capitalism and Energetic States 296
Elias to the Liberal Peace 297
Political Power and Resource Power 301
Machine Fetishization 306
Conclusion: Contested Powers 310
Notes 311
References 312
About the Authors 313
Index 316
Back Cover Back cover