Conflict In Peru Research Articles

Unpacking the Local Resource Curse: How Externalities and Governance Shape Social Conflict

Natural resource extraction is economically important in many developing countries, but social conflict can threaten the viability of the sector. This article examines why polluting extractive industries sometimes generate social mobilization but often do not. First, I distinguish acute, highly visible environmental externalities from chronic, less observable pollution, showing that only the former generate social mobilization. Second, I explore how high-quality local governance can mitigate the local resource curse dynamic by both reducing pollution and improving compensation in mining-intensive areas. The analysis uses microlevel data on extractive commodities, water pollution, children’s and livestock health, local government quality, and mining-related social conflict in Peru to demonstrate the full causal pathway of the local resource curse.

Teatro e direito à memória

O presente trabalho procura refletir sobre a prática artística de dois grupos teatrais latino-americanos, o Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani (Peru) e a Tribo de Atuadores Ói Nóis Aqui Traveiz (Brasil). Busca analisar o compromisso ético e político assumido pelos coletivos com a defesa dos Direitos Humanos, ao lidar com a memória e traumas do passado, como o conflito armado interno no Peru ou a ditadura civil-militar no Brasil.

Resource Booms and Institutional Pathways: The Case of the Extractive Industry in Peru ed. by Eduardo Dargent et al.

Reviewed by: Resource Booms and Institutional Pathways: The Case of the Extractive Industry in Peru ed. by Eduardo Dargent et al. Anthony Bebbington Eduardo Dargent, José Carlos Orihuela, Maritza Paredes, and María Eugenia Ulfe, eds. Resource Booms and Institutional Pathways: The Case of the Extractive Industry in Peru. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 206 pp. $89.99 e-book (ISBN: 978-3-319-53532-6); $119.99 cloth (ISBN: 978-3-319-53531-9). Though formally an edited collection, Resource Booms and Institutional Pathways is the product of a collective intellectual endeavor linking scholars and (former) students at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. La Católica has become one of the most interesting centers of interdisciplinary research on extractivism in Latin America, and this book reflects the combination of innovative thinking, empirical sensibilities and merging of theory and political insight that has underlain so many of the contributions that have emerged from the university. That this work has been done at La Católica itself reflects the degree to which Peru was one of the "leaders" in the mineral investment boom that has come to affect so much of Latin America over the last two decades. This book takes that boom as its period of analysis, and asks how sustained investment in the "new" mining has interacted with patterns of institutional change in the public sector. In pursuing this question, the book speaks directly to theories of institutional change that, while drawn primarily from political science and sociology (Kathleen Thelen, Peter Hall, Doug McAdam, Peter Haas etc.), have much relevance for geographers who are interested in state building, environmental governance, contentious politics, and uneven development. As they analyze patterns of institutional change over the last two decades, the authors prefer to talk of "institutional regime" rather than simply of "institutions" understood as "the rules of the game." This is because, they argue, "[l]aws only become institutions in the proper sense of the scholarly definition, when state actors and/or social forces put their power and weight behind them" (p. 178–9). Rule enforcement is, then, every bit as important as rule-making, and such enforcement depends on the relative capacities of state, civic, and private sector organizations to roll out or resist changes in the rules that govern the mineral sector. The notion of "institutional regime" is intended to capture this combination of rules and organizational capacities. The authors make a useful distinction between institutional regimes related to "benefits management" and "costs management" linked to extractives. They focus their analysis on those regimes for "benefits management" that involve the collection, redistribution and spending of taxes generated by resource extraction, as well as the more specific case of fiscal transfers for investment in provincial universities in areas with the presence of tax-paying resource extraction. On the "costs management side" they consider institutional regimes linked to environmental regulation, conflict management, and community consultations (though consultation is also seen as part of benefits management). The individual chapters are a very good read. While they probably speak more to Peruvianists than to anyone else, they include [End Page 233] much that is of relevance for ongoing challenges and contention in the region as a whole. Thus, while grounded in the Peruvian experience, the chapters throw important light on how Ministries of Environment have been created and resisted; environmental regulations governing mining can be tightened, contested, and unraveled; fiscal systems that transfer substantial parts of extractive industry tax payments back to mining regions can emerge and then become self-reproducing in ways that constrain further innovation in fiscal practice; and human rights agencies within the state can be strengthened and become important sources of transparency, accountability and public debate over extractivism. These are vital insights for scholars and activists alike who share an interest in the conditions under which "better government" might emerge. And for those who need inspiration, the chapter on the Defensoria del Pueblo should do the job: against the odds, this is an institution that has made a profound difference to the regulation of extraction and extractive industry conflicts in Peru, and the analysis throws light on how that became possible, albeit with avances y retrocesos. For...

Documentación de la experiencia de los traductores e intérpretes de lenguas originarias en el Perú

A pesar del carácter multiétnico y multilingüe del Perú, el español está considerado como la lengua predominante tanto en lo público como en lo privado. Esta situación de desigualdad genera conflictos sociales entre los peruanos y afecta, sobre todo, a aquellos que poseen el español como segunda lengua. Como un intento de revertir esta injusticia para los hablantes de lenguas indígenas, el Estado creó un programa de intérpretes y traductores. La presente investigación busca documentar la experiencia de algunos traductores e intérpretes empadronados en dicho programa.

La teta asustada: de Theidon a Llosa

Cuando se difundió el filme La teta asustada (2009) dirigido por Claudia Llosa, quienes habían leído Entre prójimos. El conflicto interno y la política de la reconciliación en el Perú (2004) --investigación realizada por la antropóloga médica Kimberly Theidon en siete comunidades ayacuchanas entre 1995 y 2000-- se preguntaron por la relación de dicho estudio con la película de Llosa pues el término “teta asustada” es una traducción que hace Theidon de la expresión quechua Mancharisqa Nuñu que refiere a la enfermedad que trasmitieron las madres a sus bebes durante la época del conflicto armado en el Perú. Pese a que en el filme no se cita el libro ni se lo menciona como una fuente, en más de una entrevista Llosa declaró que la lectura de Entre prójimos fue el punto de partida para su película. De otro lado, Theidon se enteró de “La teta asustada” cuando la película ganó el “Oso de Oro” en el Festival de Berlín (2010). En el presente trabajo me interesa indagar, desde una perspectiva intertextual, en el diálogo que se establece entre ambos textos y la manera como Llosa “lee”, ficcionaliza, se acerca y también se distancia de la investigación realizada por la antropóloga.

Do fiscal windfalls increase mining conflicts? Not always

There is neither simple, nor universal relationship between mineral abundance and conflict. Pleased with the growing scholarly production on the local resource curse, we are concerned about how little we discuss the external validity of findings. Studies are sometimes taken as unconditional evidence of the resource curse (or its inexistence), which is a misunderstanding of a phenomenon that takes place under space and time-sensitive circumstances. To build our argument, we replicate and expand the period of analysis of Arellano-Yanguas (2011), a study of mining conflict in Peru that has become a point of reference in the new local resource curse literature. We show that the relationship between mining and conflict in Peru is complex. In particular, econometric findings on how fiscal windfalls impact on conflict will depend on variable definitions and period of analysis. The main goal of our research is to highlight the need of contextualizing quantitative evidence of resource-based local development that, alike qualitative research, provide results plausible of generalization yet not necessarily externally valid.

Environmental Justice vs Global Capitalism Experiences, Debates and Conflicts in Peru

El estudio detiene su analisis en las multiples manifestaciones socioambientales germinadas en el territorio peruano frente a un capitalismo globalizado. La metodologia toma su impulso en la investigacion documental y el analisis bibliografico. Ante la expansion de la actividad minera en los ultimos anos y de los altos impactos socio-ambientales provocados en el Peru, los afectados emprenden luchas en busca del reconocimiento de una justicia ambiental. Para los vulnerables en Santa Ana (2011), Conga (2011-2014), Las Bambas (2015) y Tia Maria (2015) la idea de justicia climatica es un derecho que esta siendo lesionado. ABSTRACT The study stops its analysis in the multiple socio-environmental manifestations germinated in the Peruvian territory against a globalized capitalism. The methodology takes its momentum in the documentary research and the bibliographical analysis. Faced with the expansion of mining activity in recent years and the high socio-environmental impacts provoked in Peru, those affected undertake struggles in search of the recognition of environmental justice. For the vulnerable in Santa Ana (2011), Conga (2011-2014), Las Bambas (2015) and Tia Maria (2015) the idea of climate justice is a right that is being injured. KEY WORDS: Mining Activity, Latin America, Climate Change, Socio-Environmental Conflicts, Extractivism.

Voting in the Shadow of Violence: Electoral Politics and Conflict in Peru

Why do some insurgent groups with associated electoral parties target civilians despite the costs of doing so? Organizations with peaceful electoral wings and violent factions operating at the same time are common in contemporary democracies. One of the more consistent observations in the literature is that insurgent targeting of civilians is costly to their electoral counterpart, and insurgents are aware of this cost. Yet, many insurgent groups continue to target civilians. In this article, we suggest a localized effect of violence on electoral outcomes of parties with ties to violent groups offers an explanation for why such insurgent groups might continue to perpetrate violence. Specifically, we suggest insurgent benefits, measured as electoral costs to the incumbent for failure in stemming the violence, likely outweigh the localized electoral costs to insurgent-affiliated parties from the violence. Our subnational analysis of violence and electoral results across Peruvian provinces strongly supports our story.

Recibir la reparación. Aproximación a dos organizaciones de desplazados del conflicto armado interno en Lima y su acceso a reparaciones colectivas

This article illustrates the characteristics of two Lima-based organizations of persons displaced by the internal armed conflict in Peru (1980-2000), and the way in which these characteristics create opportunities and obstacles for access to the Program of Collective Reparations —a key element of the Peruvian reparations policy—. This program provides funding to a collective beneficiary for institutional strengthening or economic entrepreneurship.Based on bibliographic review, interviews with members of these organizations as well as ethnographic field work, I show that the characteristics of each displaced persons’ organization together with the type of collective project they choose create scenarios of challenges and possibilities which pose difficulties to these groups, requiring collective action capacities which they do not necessarily have. This results in a de facto situation that undermines their right to reparation. Therefore, I argue the importance not only of analizing the reparations offer and its quality, but also the characteristics of the demand, that is, of the beneficiary groups of displaced persons and their internal interactions, and how these factors shape access to reparations.

Processes of Political Violence and the Dynamics of Situational Interaction

This paper explores how processual approaches to political violence, which largely focus on patterns of strategic interaction at the meso-level of analysis, can be enhanced by paying closer attention to conditions, patterns, and the micro-dynamics of violence in face-to-face encounters. Discussing characteristic elements of processual and situational approaches, and drawing on brief vignettes of episodes of violence in political conflicts in Peru, Egypt, and Germany, it argues that the theoretical value of this perspective is twofold. Firstly, it allows us to capture unintended outcomes of situational interactions, which can account for the sudden emergence or escalation of violence. Secondly, it argues that situational interaction approaches can refine our understanding of meso-level violent processes because they allow us to examine how these processes shape and “produce” situational conditions and constraints that facilitate and induce violent escalation and thus offer ways to capture and conceptualize complex patterns of enchainment.

Governmentality, Development and the Violence of Natural Resource Extraction in Peru

In a recent series of articles, ecological distribution conflicts scholars present descriptive statistical analyses backing Joan Martinez-Alier (2002)’s thesis on the environmentalism of the poor. In their collaborative Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas), their Peru sample reports a success rate of 24% in stopping projects. We contend that successful resistance represents only 2-5% of the total universe of Peru mining conflicts. Our claim is built on the study of 517 conflicts in Peru between 2005 and 2019, as registered by the Ombudsperson's Office. The evidence suggests, moreover, that contentious collective action commonly subordinates environmental justice causes to conventional economic concerns and resolutions, resulting in mining conflicts unfolding into compensation schemes and better deal settlements. Our straightforward interpretation is that while negative impacts are complex phenomena not homogeneously experienced among and within local communities, across space and over time, natural resource commodification brings with it the promise of local development opportunities. We draw a complementary extractivism of the poor hypothesis: there are diverse forms of (bitter) accommodation with or (structured) involvement in natural resource commodification of the poor and the indigenous.

The Effect of Civil Conflict on Domestic Violence: The Case of Peru

We study the effect of women's exposure to civil conflict violent events during childhood and early teenage years on the probability that they will experience domestic violence in their marriages as adults. In particular, we investigate the case of the internal conflict in Peru during the 1980s and early 1990s, and its effect on the incidence of domestic violence between 2004 and 2012. We find that female exposure to conflict violence increases their later risk of being a perpetrator and a victim of domestic violence. The average effects for women affected by the conflict are small, although they mask important heterogeneities as some regions were affected by the conflict more severely than others. The effects are substantial for women in the highest categories of exposure. We also find evidence that a potential mechanism through which exposure to the conflict affects domestic violence in the long-term is normalization of the use of violence. Women more exposed to conflict violent events are more likely to justify the use of violence against women and more likely to stay in a violent relationship.

Dreams of growth and fear of water crisis: the ambivalence of “progress” in the Majes-Siguas Irrigation Project, Peru

ABSTRACTThe boom in extractivist industries since the 1990s has resulted in a concomitant increase in socio-environmental conflicts in Peru. In the southern region of Arequipa, the Majes Irrigation Project has transformed 15,000 hectares of desert to fertile land and has become a hub for economic opportunities. In the planned second phase of the project, a new dam will be built to extend the amount of irrigated land and foster large-scale export-oriented agribusiness. Contrary to the government’s promises about progress, modernity and employment, the planned extension triggers anxiety among the local farmers who fear privatization, corporate dominance and a neo-colonial return of foreign big estates. This article examines four different stories – both overlapping and contradicting – about Majes. The first story envisions expectations of growth and modernity, while the second focuses on hard work and sacrifice. The other side of the coin appears in the third story about debt, loss and vulnerability following from neoliberal deregulations. The final story concerns the lack of benefits for the local farmers and the growing inequalities, resulting in struggles for land rights and water justice. The stories reflect clashing local and global scales and tensions between private and public ownership and between individual and collective solutions. The farmers in the highlands are ambivalent about the project because in spite of dreams about progress, they have long-standing concerns with large-scale corporate dominance and lack of local autonomy.

Asedios al cuento fantástico de compromiso político-social peruano. El caso de “Mateo Yucra” (1992), de Juan Pablo Heredia Ponce

<p>Este artículo analiza uno de los primeros cuentos peruanos que abordan el tema del conflicto armado interno: “Mateo Yucra” (1992), de Juan Pablo Heredia Ponce, en el que se emplea lo fantástico como un artefacto discursivo, que le permite a su autor pronunciarse sobre los cruentos sucesos políticos-sociales que<br />estaban ocurriendo en Perú desde inicios de los años ochenta del siglo xx. La crítica literaria peruana ha estudiado la narrativa del conflicto armado interno desde una óptica netamente realista. Sin embargo, estos especialistas parecieran olvidar que hay una serie de obras importantes (entre las que está “Mateo Yucra”) que se ocupan de este tema apelando al elemento contrafáctico. Este artículo pretende, a partir del estudio del cuento de Heredia Ponce y desde los aportes de la teoría de lo fantástico (Ferreras, Molloy, Roas) y la crítica cultural (Spivak, Butler, Agamben, Žižek), pensar la noción de literatura fantástica de compromiso político-social, categoría que podría servir para estudiar una parcela importante de la narrativa que se ocupa del conflicto armado interno.</p>

Roles contributivos vs. roles partisanos en la cobertura de conflictos socioambientales. Un estudio comparado

This study discusses if the regional media made a coverage of the socio-environmental better than national media, using the nearest to the social actors and the knowledge of the problems contribute to conflict transformation. To measure media coverage of conflicts I develop 10 indicators of roles that contribute to conflict transformation and 10 indicators showing partisan roles that exacerbate conflict.The study analyzes three emblematic conflicts in Peru: “Tia Maria”, “Toquepala” and “Conga”, they are a mining projects that in 2011 generated many protests, and human and material losses. The methodology consisted of an analysis of the 5 regional news media were compared with 7 national news media, making a total of 1080 analyzed.The results show that the news is constructed with framing where discourses that contribute to a more confrontational predominate. A very few cases of news contribute to the transformation of the conflict. Regional media have fewer stories with a contributor role, while the capital media have a little more. But also, the regional media published more news promoting a partisan role to push the escalation of conflicts.

Conga Mines: Development as Conflict in Peru

The US-based Newmont Mining Corporation is the world's wealthiest gold mining company and has been denounced within the United States and by other countries including Indonesia, Ghana, Turkey, and Bolivia. Its critics accuse Newmont of seriously damaging the environment and public health, bribing government officials, abusing its workers, and hiring people to threaten and attack the company's critics. Its activities in Peru date back to the second half of the 1990s, during the Fujimori Dictatorship, when it managed to obtain the deposit reserve of Yanacocha, Cajamarca, in the northern highlands of Peru, which has continuously generated conflicts. In 1998, thousands of trout died in rivers near the mine; in 2000, hundreds of kilos of mercury were spilled in the Choropampa district. Four years later, the water from Cerro Quilish, which supplies the capital Cajamarca, was contaminated. Due to massive popular protest, a municipal ordinance was passed establishing the mountain aquifer as a protected zone. Ollanta Humala, who became Peru's president in 2011, decided to move forward with Newmont's second wealthiest project, called Conga Mines (that would relieve the already exhausted Yanacocha mine). The project was originally approved by former president Alan García and would endanger four large highland Andean lagoons in the region, generating the largest and most important socio-environmental conflict thus far under that government.

‘Democratic Reform without Democracy’ - Roots of Socio-Environmental Conflicts in Peru -

‘Democratic Reform without Democracy’ - Roots of Socio-Environmental Conflicts in Peru -

La Pedagogía de la Ternura -Una lucha por la dignidad y la vida desde la acción educativa

La Pedagogía de la Ternura surgió en un contexto de guerra interna en Perú. Un grupo de maestros buscaba respuesta a la violencia e indiferencia que afectaban sus vidas y la de sus estudiantes. Es un enfoque con una vista respetuosa e integral de la infancia, tomando en cuenta no solo la cognición de los estudiantes sino también sus experiencias diarias, sus emociones y relaciones interpersonales. La idea fue y es desarrollada por colaboradores del Manthoc e IFEJANT, dos organizaciones que apoyan a niños trabajadores en la defensa de sus derechos. Tiene antecedentes y movimientos hermanos en otros países con experiencias semejantes.Diá-logos 16, 63-76.

Dance, Resilience and Social Transformation in the Global South

This article is based on a presentation at the Colloquium: Being Human Today held in Stellenbosch, South Africa in December 2015. This reflection is inspired by the courage of many women and men, who form part of community-based organisations and local NGOs. These people living in constant threat, and danger and have been attacked by armed groups or security forces, in contexts of violent conflict in Peru and Colombia and many other parts of Global South. For these communities, these threats, attacks and other forms of violence are part of their daily lives. However, they continue to work at building peace and respect for their human rights despite the risks these efforts may bring to their own lives and their families.

Ruptura del cuerpo y ruptura del lenguaje en la novela de la memoria histórica en el Perú. Estudio comparativo de Adiós Ayacucho de Julio Ortega y La sangre de la aurora de Claudia Salazar

Two novels which represent a part of the internal armed confl ict in Peru (1980-2000) are discussed: Adios Ayacucho (1986) by Julio Ortega and La sangre de la aurora (2013) by Claudia Salazar. Although these novels are chronologically distant, both analize language transgression as a means to represent violence in the most essential matter: the body. The comparative analysis has three objectives. First, the difference between the novel of historical memory and the novel of violence in Peru is explained; second, an understanding of both novels is proposed through two important body metaphors: the bone metaphor and the liquid metaphor. Finally, we analyze how these metaphors are created not only at the level of the signifi er but the signifi ed, that is, through the fragmentation, rupture and experimentation of the language and its syntax.