Scaling Democracy: Participation and Resource Extraction in Latin America

Abstract

In an extractive economy with territorially uneven costs and benefits, who should decide the fate of oil and mining projects: directly affected minorities or national citizenries? I reframe this question empirically: How are the collective identities and interests attached to various scales of democracy politically constructed in the increasingly frequent conflicts over resource extraction in Latin America, and what can we learn from these conflicts about broader dynamics of democratic contestation? To answer this question, I propose the concept of scaling democracy: the agonistic processes by which the scales of democratic decision-making and the democratic people are contested, established, and transformed. The concept of scaling democracy draws our attention to the ways in which the collective identities and interests attached to the various scales of democracy are constructed. These interest-articulations and collective identities are shaped by available institutional norms, organizational infrastructures, and social meanings. I draw on data from participant observation of a community mining consultation in Ecuador, and show that participatory institutions in the arena of resource extraction have fueled a contentious process of scaling democracy, with broader implications for the study of participatory democracy and scholarship on the relationship between resource-dependency and democracy.

Open Veins Revisited: Charting the Social, Economic, and Political Contours of the New Extractivism in Latin America

“…Countries that have made a left turn are both more and less democratic, with traditional economic elites firmly in place even though the poor are better off than they were. Patterns of domination and dependency that date from the colonial era have persisted through a rare period of commodity-dependent left populism that has flourished because of the deal the pink-tide governments made with extractive industries (Rianfrancos, 2017b). García Linera (2012) has called critics of continued extractivism naïve and not necessarily anticapitalist, but in practice there has been very little difference between conservative and progressive governments in relation to extractivism over the past 15 years (Saldomando, 2017).…”

“…Local marches, meetings, and occupations abound in places as diverse as southern Mexico, northeastern Brazil, Amazonian Colombia, and highland Peru. Movements primarily based in the communities directly affected face the persistent difficulty of extending their struggles to the larger region and country (Rianfrancos, 2017b). In this issue, Maria Guadalupe Moog Rodrigues discusses this challenge in Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay, which has attracted little international attention or much effective local organizing even after a disastrous oil spill in 2000.…”

“…For many of the poor, their incomes have improved sufficiently to ensure ongoing support for their governments. The progressive governments have largely taken the air out of the room, marginalizing opposition on the left, dividing communities with investments in schools, hospitals, etc., and gradually excluding social movements and their leaders from input into policy making (Rianfrancos, 2017b). This points to a fundamental contradiction at the heart of extractive projects.…”

Introduction The Politics of Participation in Latin America: New Actors and Institutions

“…Mechanisms of prior consultation and environmental impact assessments trigger legal proceedings to ensure community consultation (and ideally, input) on decisions about resource extraction (Falleti and Riofrancos 2018;Jaskoski 2014;Li 2015;Riofrancos 2017). Moreover, courts have created initiatives for participatory oversight of court rulings, which engage civil society in monitoring and evaluating the government's compliance with judicial orders (Botero 2018; Rodríguez-Garavito and Rodríguez-Franco 2015, chap.…”

What Stymies Action on Climate Change? Religious Institutions, Marginalization, and Efficacy in Kenya

“…Citizens mobilize protests, contact politicians, and start social media campaigns to advocate for effective mitigation and adaptation policies. Even in countries that are not the primary drivers of climate change, citizen pressure on national governments can counterbalance big international firms, such as plastics lobbyists, and can force governments to exert influence over major polluters (Hadden 2015;Riofrancos 2017). Further, citizen input is critical for local policymaking.…”