Energy Politics in Colombia

Pedraja, René De La

doi:10.4324/9780429042560

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Private companies and landowners were pioneers in electrification and control of the country's public waters [65]. These actors created their technical commissions to generate 'adequate' water use [66]. Under regionalist demands, in the 1930s, the government granted concessions authorizing the diversion and allocation of waters to establish large-scale agriculture ( [62], pp.…”

Section: Liberal Water Policies and Its Utopian Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…CARS have had the competence to allocate water and grant water concessions and have fostered the regional economy [70]. For instance, the Valle del Cauca Corporation (CVC) was created independently of the State and allowed large businesses and financial elites in the region to negotiate directly for loans from the World Bank [66]. De la Pedraja [64] states that Colombia has always needed more faith in its ability to develop and control technology.…”

Section: Liberal Water Policies and Its Utopian Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Utopian River Planning and Hydrosocial Territory Transformations in Colombia and Spain

Duarte-Abadía

2023

Water

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This paper examines how utopian river planning has arisen in Colombia and Spain since the late nineteenth century. Specifically, the paper contributes to understanding how particular ideologies of modernism and development present in territorial planning connect both countries. Taking Thomas More’s classic work ‘Utopia’ as the analytical reference, I analyze how utopian tendencies have traveled through time and space to shape territorial planning and water governance. In both countries, this was evident in the late nineteenth century through the political project to strengthen the nation state. For Spain, I describe the regenerationist movement and the hydraulic utopia led by the Spanish intellectual Joaquín Costa, who forged the dream of a water nationhood. By contrast, in Colombia, several political intellectuals looked at Europe and North America as a source of inspiration to achieve progress by controlling rivers. Through the method of disjunctive comparison, I show how the same utopian notions are expressed in similar ways in distinct contexts: violently governing the flows of rivers, standardizing minds and ordering territories towards capital growth. This paper contributes to grasping the notions and roots of the discourses that have colonized the political water agendas in both countries.

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Section: Liberal Water Policies and Its Utopian Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%