Abstract
Based on primary sources, this article analyzes 150 participatory events related to planned hydrocarbon projects in Peru (2007–2012). Therein, it sheds light on state depoliticizing practices and local populations’ contestations thereof. We argue that participation in the extraction sector has not enabled effective participation and has instead been used to pave the way for expanding the extractive frontiers. We find that the state entity responsible for carrying out the events applied three main depoliticizing practices: (a) the organization of exclusionary participatory processes, (b) the provision of pro-extraction information, and (c) the identification of critical actors and discourses in order to formulate recommendations on how to weaken resistance against the planned activities. This study also reveals that local populations often contested the participatory events and identifies subnational patterns of local contestation. We find that higher degrees of contestation were fueled by previous negative experiences with extraction activities and the existence of local economic alternatives. To assess the histories and results of contestation over specific extractive activities over time, the study draws on monthly conflict reports produced by the Peruvian ombudsperson (2007–2016). We find that local contestation was quite influential, leading to increased social investment programs in the affected areas, the withdrawal of several extraction corporations, and Peru’s adoption of the Law on Prior Consultation (2011). However, the long-term prospects of the transformations provoked by repoliticizing processes need to be evaluated in the years to come.
Highlights
Since the 1990s, different forms of participation have increasingly been established in environmental governance from the local to the global (Bäckstrand, 2006; Leifsen, Gustafsson, GuzmánGallegos, & Schilling-Vacaflor, 2017)
We found that the conflict reports from the Peruvian ombudsperson contained information about contestations and conflicts related to 13 of the 72 hydrocarbon concessions that are included in our database on participatory events
In these 13 cases we were able to trace the results of high degrees of local contestation during the events over time because they turned into publicly visible social conflicts
Summary
Since the 1990s, different forms of participation have increasingly been established in environmental governance from the local to the global (Bäckstrand, 2006; Leifsen, Gustafsson, GuzmánGallegos, & Schilling-Vacaflor, 2017). Out of the broad range of different participatory mechanisms, this article focuses on participatory events carried out by the Peruvian state about new hydrocarbon projects, including both indigenous and nonindigenous citizens and communities. The expansion of the hydrocarbon frontiers has provoked or exacerbated processes of contestation and conflict (see Bebbington, Abramovay, & Chiriboga, 2008; Bebbington, 2011; Bebbington & Bury, 2013a; De Castro, Hogenboom, & Baud, 2016).2 In this conflict-ridden context the participatory events brought together state and local actors, who debated the future of new extraction initiatives. The practices used to express contestation range from subtle expressions like critique to visible forms of protest Against this backdrop, there are two guiding questions: How did the depoliticizing practices of the state interplay with local populations’ contestation over controversial extractive projects and flawed participation processes? We reflect upon our findings and their broader implications regarding participation and contestation over extraction activities
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