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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 |