Social Conflict, Economic Development and Extractive Industry: Evidence from South America

140 Pages·2011·16.486 MB·English

by  Anthony Bebbington, ed.

Social Conflict, Economic
Development and Extractive Industry
The extraction of minerals, oil and gas has a long and ambiguous history in
development processes - in North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia
and Australasia. Extraction has yielded wealth, regional identities and in some
cases capital for industrialisation. In other cases its main heritages have been
social conflict, environmental damage and underperforming national economies.
As the extractive economy has entered another boom period over the last decade,
not least in Latin America, the countries in which this boom is occurring are
challenged to interpret this ambiguity. Will the extractive industry yield, for
them, economic development, or will its main gifts be ones of conflict, degrada
tion and unequal forms of growth?
This book speaks directly to this question and to the different ways in which
Latin American countries are responding to the challenge of extractive industry.
The contributors are a mixture of geographers, economists, political scientists,
development experts and anthropologists, who all draw on sustained fieldwork
in the region. By digging deep into both national and local experiences with
extractive industry they demonstrate the ways in which it transforms economies,
societies, polities and environments. They pay particular attention to the social
conflict that extraction consistently produces, and they ask how far this conflict
might usher in political and institutional changes that could lead to a more pro
ductive relationship between extraction and development. They also ask whether
the existence of left-of-centre governments in the region changes the relation
ships between extractive industry and development.
The book makes clear the immense difficulties that countries and regional
societies face in harnessing extractive industry for the collective good. For the
most part the findings question the wisdom of the development model that many
countries in the region have taken up and which emphasizes the productive roles
of mining and hydrocarbon industries. The book should be of interest to students
and researchers of Development Studies, Geography, Politics and Political
Economy, as well as Anthropology.
Anthony Bebbington is Higgins Professor of Environment and Society and
Director of the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University, USA. He is
also a Professorial Research Fellow in the School of Environment and Develop
ment at the University of Manchester, UK, and Research Associate of the Centro
Peruano de Estudios Sociales. Lima, Peru.
· k and Social Change in an African Rural Economy
7 RIS ••
Livelihoods in pastoralist commumtles
Routledge ISS studies in rural livelihoods
John G. McPeak, Peter D. Little and Cheryl R. Doss
Editorial Board: A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi
Trent University 8 Public Policy and Agricultural Development
Saturnino M. Borras Jr.
Edited by Ha-Joon Chang
Institute of Social Studies
Cristobal Kay (Chair) 9 Social Conflict, Economic Development and Extractive Industry
Institute of Social Studies Evidence from South America
Max Spoor Edited by Anthony Bebbington
Institute of Social Studies)
Routledge and the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, The Nether
lands have come together to publish a new book series in rural livelihoods. The
series will include themes such as land policies and land rights, water issues,
food policy and politics, rural poverty, agrarian transformation, migration, rural
oriented social movements, rural conflict and violence, among others. All books
in the series will offer rigorous, empirically grounded, cross-national compara
tive and interregional analysis. The books will be theoretically stimulating, but
will also be accessible to policy practitioners and civil society activists.
"."liaad, Poverty and Livelihoods in an Era of Globalization
. tiom developing and transition countries
'IIfJI'tJOft Akram-Lodh~ Saturnlno M. Borras Jr. and CristObal
_I1OIIPY. aararian transformation and develoJlllent
HlII'DOII' Akram-Lodhi and CristObal Kay
3 Tile Polities. Economy of Rural Livelihoods in Transition Economies
Land, peasants and rural poverty in transition
Edited by Max Spoor
4 Agrarian Angst and Rural Resistance in Contemporary Southeast Asia
Edited by Dominique Caouette and Sarah Turner
5 Water, Environmental Security and Sustainable Rural Development
Conflict and cooperation in Central Eurasia
Edited by Murat Arsel and Max Spoor
6 Reforming Land and Resource Use in South Africa
Impact on livelihoods
Edited by Paul Hebinck and Charlie ShIlcltltlton
Social Conflict, Economic
Development and Extractive
Industry
Evidence from South America
Edited by Anthony Bebbington
'\
1
Routledge
~ T.yIor&.Frands Croup
lONDON AND NEW YOttK
First published 2012
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OXI4 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Rout/edge is an imprint of the Tay/or & Francis Group, an iriforma business
© 2012 Anthony Bebbington
The right of Anthony Bebbington to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988,
For Anna and Carmen,
All rights reserved, No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now whose childhoods have been more affected
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
by mining and hydrocarbons,
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
fivm !he publishers. than they would ever have Wished
~ 1IOIIce: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or and
.." III .d1l'lldemlrks, and are used only for identification and explanation
' ......... to iotiinp, For Denise, h' b k
_~C~inPubI;calionData who is more responsible for the existence of t IS 00
. • •••• ftICIOnt fbr 1his book is available fi'om the British Library than even she can imagine
UIIIW;,.-c."w. ~ III hbllctllion Dala
With all my love
SOaiII ...... CIIlOIIOIIIIc dI!¥eIopment and 1hc extractive industry:
....... &om SouIh Amerieatedited by AndIony Bebbington.
p. ••
Includes bibliopapIricaI references and index.
l. Mineral induslries-Econoic IISfl'CClS-Sout America. 2. Petroleum
industry and ~ic aspccts-South America. 3. Social
conftict-8outh America. 4. Economic development-South
America. I. Bebbington, Anthony. 1962-
HD9S06.S7432S632011
338.2098--dc22 ...
2011016296
ISBN: 978-0-415-62071·0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978·0·203·63903·0 (ebk)
Typeset in Times
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
J.:j
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FSC Printed and bound in Great Britain by
TJl Digital, Padstow. Cornwall
Contents
List off igures, maps and tables Xl
List ofc ontributors xiii
Prtface and acknftWledgements xv
List ofa bbreviations xviii
PART I
Political economies of extraction
1 Extractive industries. socio-environmental conflicts and
political economic transformations in Andean America 3
ANTHONY BEBBINGTON
:z The political economy of managing extractives in Bolivia,
Ecuador and Peru 27
JOSE CARLOS ORIHUELA AND ROSEMARY THORP
3 The politics of extractive industries in the Central Andes 46
JOHN CRABTREE AND ISABEL CRABTREE-CONDOR
Til
Confticts, transformations and institutional change 65
Social conflict and emergent institutions: hypotheses from
Piura, Peru 67
ANTHONY BEBBINOTON
5 Mining and conflict in Peru: sowing the minerals. reaping a
hail of stones 89
JAVIER ARELLANO-Y ANGUAS
x Contents
6 Sovereignty negotiated: anti-mining movements, the state
Figures, maps and tables
and multinational mining companies under Correa's '21st
Century Socialism' 112
JENNIFER MOORE AND TERESA VELAsQUEZ
7 State--indigenous tensions over hydrocarbon expansion in
the Bolivian Chaco 134
DENISE HUMPHREYS BEBBINGTON
8 Planning development futures in the Ecuadorian Amazon:
the expanding oil frontier and the Yasunf-ITT initiative 153
LAURA RIVAL Figure
5.1 Per capita fiscal transfers to regional and local governments
9 The Camisea gas project: indigenous social movements and
in Peruvian nuevas soles (2007) 94
international NGOs in the Peruvian Amazon 172
BRIAN PRATT
Tables
10 Household and community responses to mining-related
river contamination in the upper Pilcomayo basin, Bolivia 187 1.1 Watersheds and mining concessions in Peru 15
2.1 Basic data on the economic and physical structures of
DAVID PRESTON
30
Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru
2.2 Income distribution and poverty rates in Bolivia, Ecuador
PART III 34
and Peru
Conclusions and comparisons 199 2.3 GDP at constant prices and total dollar exports (average
annual change) and share of manufacturing in GDP
11 Afterword: extractive conflicts com pared 201 (period averages) for Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru 34
STUART KIRSCH" 2.4 The political economy of managing extractives:
39
institutions matter
12 Conclusions 214 5.1 Distribution of the canon (with the exception of that for
94
ANTHONY BEBBINGTON oil) according to Law No. 28077
5.2 Per capita canon minero transfers (US$) in the three
Andean districts of Mariscal Nieto-Moquegua (2004-8) \02
Bibliography 226
5A.I Regression of poverty levels and mining-related variables
Index 248 108-9
on the incidence of conflict by region (2005-8)
193
10.1 Community water sources along the Rio Pilcomayo
Maps
1.1 Hydrocarbon concessions and contracts in the western
Amazon Basin 14
4.1 Mining claims in Piura, Peru showing the MajaziRfo Blanco
~~ ~
xii Illustrations
7.1 Actual and potentia) areas of hydrocarbon development
in Bolivia, 2009 Contributors
140
8.1 Ma~ of Ecuador.showing the Huaorani Territory, the Yasun!
National Park, 011 concessions and the location of Blocks
16,31 and ITT
10.1 155
The Pilcomayo Basin, Potosi and Tarija
188
Javier Arellano-Yanguas is Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Ethics
in the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at Deusto University, Spain and
received his PhD from the University of Sussex, UK.
Anthony Bebbington is Higgins Professor of Environment and Society and
Director of the Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, USA; Pro
fessorial Research Fellow, School of Environment and Development, Univer
sity of Manchester; and Research Associate of the Centro Peruano de
Estudios Sociales, Peru.
Denise Humphreys Bebbington Denise Humphreys Bebbington is Research
Assistant Professor in the International Development, Community and Envir
onment Department at Clark University, USA.
John Crabtree is Research Associate at the Latin American Centre, Oxford
University, UK, and has published widely on the politics of the Andean coun
tries, particularly Bolivia and Peru.
Isabel Crabtree-Condor is a staff writer at Latin American Newsletters,
London and has a Masters degree from the School of Oriental and African
Studies, UK, in Globalization and Development.
Stuart Kirsch is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of
Michigan, USA.
Jennifer Moore is Latin America Programme Coordinator at Mining Watch,
Canada.
Jose Carlos Orihuela is a Visiting Fellow at the Watson Institute for Interna
tional Studies at Brown University, USA.
Brian Pratt is the Executive Director of INTRAC, International NGO Training
and Research Centre, Oxford, UK.
David Preston is Research Associate at the Latin American Centre, Oxford Uni
versity, UK and Emeritus Faculty of the School of Geography, Leeds Univer
sity, UK.
xiv Contributors
La~~ Rt~ is University Lecturer in Anthropology and Development in the
x or epartment of International Development and Fellow of L' Preface and acknowledgements
College at Oxford University, UK. ' macre
Rosema~ Thorp was Reader in the Economics of Latin America and is
Ementus Fellow ofSt Antony's College at Oxford University, UK, an
TerTesa Vebisq.uez is a Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology at the Univers'ty f
exas, Austm, USA. I 0
As global demand for minerals and energy grows, both large-scale mining and
extraction of oil and natural gas are expanding rapidly. This is happening both
worldwide and within Latin America, where new and old frontiers of extraction
are being opened up to exploration and exploitation activities. For some obser
vers this surge of interest in the region's subsoil resources is the opportunity of a
lifetime a chance for economic growth, private accumulation and national
socio-economic development. Others, however, worry that this expansion brings
new threats to natural environments, human well-being and the quality of demo
cracy. These worries have prompted spirited responses, especially from the
peasant, indigenous and urban communities most immediately affected by
extraction who are concerned about the implications that this will hold for their
livelihoods, water and access to land, and more generally for their day-to-day
quality of life and ability to control the territories they claim as theirs. Trans
national companies, governments and other interests who expect to benefit from
this extraction have found themselves at loggerheads with these local popula
tions and their national and international allies. This has often led to conflict and,
not infrequently, violence.
The book departs from the conviction that this expansion of extractive indus
tries in Latin America, and particularly in the Andean and Amazonian region, is
happening on such a scale and at such a speed that it is transfonning the soci
eties, political economies and territories in which it is occurring. Above all we
believe that the level of social conflict that has wracked the Andean, Amazonian
and Chaco regions of these countries, and which has been triggered by this
expansion of mining, oil and gas extraction, demands analytical attention
because it has to be understood as part of processes of wider political and insti
tutional change in the region. These conflicts around extraction are also of inter
est because they call into question the extent to which Latin American
governments claiming progressive and post-neoliberal agendas are in fact
delivering on these agendas. As the book will suggest, there is persuasive evid
ence to suggest that ostensibly progressive regimes such as those of Bolivia and
Ecuador are constrained by their dependence on and ultimately positive attitudes
towards extraction. Indeed, studying these interactions among states, companies,
NGOs, peasantries and indigenous populations provides a valuable window into
xvi Preface and acknowledgements
Preface and acknowledgements xvii
understanding contemporary Latin American politics as well as debates about
extend particular gratitude to all the contributors to this book, as well as to
development in an era in which neoJiberaJ economic policy has come to be dis
Leonith Hinojosa, Martin Scurrah, Juan Rheineck, Fernando Eguren, Mar!a
credited but not fulJy repJaced. In this sense, the book's focus on extraction
Luisa Burneo Bruno Revesz, Fernando Romero, Jeff Bury, Kathryn McPhaIl,
allows it to speak in a grounded way to some of the largest questions confronting Marta Fole, J~se de Echave, Sophie Paton, Gaby Drinkwater, Pablo Ortiz, Patri
contemporary Latin America.
cia Oliart, Nina Laurie, Ximena Warnaars, Jorge Castro, Elad Orian, Marc.o
. Beyond i~s documentary objectives, the main purpose of the book is analyt
Arana, Mirtha Vasquez, Raul Benavides, John Groom, Diego Sanchez, J~se LUIS
Ical. Collectively, the authors address the following questions. First, how can the
con~icts su.rrounding extractive industries be best explained - in political eco L6pez, Javier Torres, Hernan Ruiz, Guido Cortez, Miguel Cas~~, Juho Ber
degue, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Juan Pablo Munoz, Manuel ~~mboga, Pablo
nO~llIc, social and cultural tenns? Second, will these conflicts enter a vicious
Ospina, Cynthia Sanborn, Gavin Bridge, Sue Johnson, Mark Wilhams and Hugh
spiral, or con~ersely is it possible that they might force institutional and political
O'Shaughnessy. The School of Environment and Development was a wonderful
chan~es that Increase the likelihood that mining, oil and gas extraction could
home for the implementation of the project, and Clark University's Graduate
contribute to more effective and equitable fonns of development? This is related
School of Geography a new home in which to finish it. Emily Gallagher did a
to another question - might conflict, rather than always being a symptom of the
splendid job preparing the text for publication; Nick Searle produced a great set
so-called nat~ral resource curse, also offer a pathway out of this curse?
of maps; Tom Sutton, Louisa Earls and Emily Kindleysides supported the p~o­
The framing of these questions, and then our collective attempt to answer
ject at Routledge and were always reassuring; and Cris Kay to~ether With
them: has grown o.ut of a sustained period of debate and interaction among the
Haroon Akram-Lodhi and Saturnino Borras Jr. encouraged me to bnng the pro
contribu.tors. In thiS sense, the book is in no way a typical edited colJection.
ject to fruition and were gracious enough to accept the text for thei~ series. I al.so
Instead It grows out of a research project on Territories, Conflicts and Develop
want to reiterate how immensely grateful I am to the Economic and SOCIal
ment in the Andes, that was very generously supported by a Professorial
Research Council for having enough faith in me to grant a Professorial Research
Research Fellowship given to me by the UK Economic and Social Research
Fellowship (RES-051-27-0191) that made this work possible. This project genu
Council (ESRC) between 2007 and 2010. In addition to funding new research
inely transformed my professional life and profile. My programme officers at the
much of~hich is reported on in this book, this fellowship supported the creatio~
of ~ workl~g grou~ on extractive industries and development to accompany the ESRC - Lyndy Griffin and Tim Wright - were nothing other than great s~urces
of support and a joy to work with. I am also grateful t~ the Ford Foun.d~t~~n for
project. This workmg group was both interdisciplinary and intersectoral. On the
their support to the project 'Extractive industries, conflIct and the pOSSIbilities of
one hand it brought together academics, activists and industry representatives'
development in the Andes' that helped support completion ofthis book. .
and on the other hand its discussions constantly tacked back and forth across th~
The project out of which this book grows transformed not only my life but
contributions of ~eographers, economists, political scientists, anthropologists,
also those ofthree people I love most deeply. There are many ways in which this
development studies researchers and historians. Over the course of two years the
S!X book has been a family project and the fact that Denise and I are both contrib
group held separate workshops at Manchester, 0.lford, Newcastle and
utors is one of the least senses in which this so. As a family we have lived this
London, and ItS core members (the contributors to this book) remained in fre
project, in Peru, Bolivia, the UK and the USA. Anna and Carmen have been
quent contact over the life of the Fellowship. At its workshops, members of the
nothing less than troopers: they have accepted school changes (from the .UK to
group presented and debated research in progress and watched ideas evolve in
Peru), eight months' separation from their mum, and freq.uent shorter pe?ods of
the light of those debates. The group was also supported by two visiting fellows
my absence. They have been tolerant (up to a point), flexl~le (up t~ a POI~t) and
from the USA, Stuart Kirsch of the University of Michigan and Jeffrey Bury of
immensely supportive. I am so grateful to them. And Demse has lIved thiS pro
the University of California at Santa Cruz. We are grateful to the ESRC and the
Social S~ience Researc~ Council of the USA for funding those fellowships. ject more than any of us. It was she who, back.in the mid 1~9~s, fin:t planted the
idea that extractive industry conflicts were gomg to be a big Issue m Peru. And
After l.tS fO~h meeting the core group decided to bring its collective learning
later on it was she who insisted that gas was going to reveal the structural dilem
together In thiS book. The fifth meeting was dedicated to discussing the core
mas of the Morales government in Bolivia. In each of these cases she was
~h~~es for the book and individual paper abstracts, and in the sixth meeting
immensely prescient - more so than she would have imagined, or, I suspect, than
initial drafts of the individual chapters were presented and discussed. Each
chapter ?as .therefo~e been commented on collectively by the group as weJl as in she would have wanted to be. This project and this book exist because of her. It
is genuinely impossible to say how grateful I am to her.
more edltonal detail by me in my role as convenor. The book before you is the
product of that process.
There are more people than can possibly be mentioned here that I need to
thank for making this book possible, but in no particular order I would like to