The authority of rules in Chile’s contentious environmental politics

The ambivalent regulator: the construction of a regulatory style for genetically modified crops in Chile

“…The implementation of these procedures has been slow in Chile. A well-established technocratic culture, reinforced and expanded during Pinochet's neoliberal restructuring, has prevented the development of formal platforms for the democratic interaction between science and politics (Barandiaran 2016;Silva 2009). For example, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), a tool designed in the 1960s to balance the need of scienceinformed environmental policies with societal goals (Glasson, Therivel, and Chadwick 2005), was only implemented in the 1990s in Chile.…”

From ‘Green Laggard’ to Regional Leader: Explaining the Recent Development of Environmental Policy in Chile

“…Last but not least, the higher importance given to the environment has provided a new context for the functioning of Chile's environmental institutions. The Environmental Impact Evaluation System (SEIA), the Environmental Courts and the Council of Ministers were designed to approve projects amidst strong pro‐growth pressures (Sepúlveda and Villarroel, : 183–185; Barandiaran, : 1014, 1024). During the Bachelet government, however, they have rejected or revoked environmental licences for a number of emblematic investment projects.…”

“…Firstly, policies and institutions advocated by international organisations have been translated to conform to the historical structure and orientation of the Chilean state, namely the centralisation and political control of decisions, as well as a positivist or ‘technical’ approach to justifying state interventions (Orihuela, ; Barandiaran, ). This was the case for the 1994 Framework Law, and again, during the design of the Ministry of the Environment and related institutions in 2010 (see Orihuela, ; Barandiaran, ). Secondly, the justification for the 2010 reforms was deeply embedded in the (mal)functioning of existing institutions and the desire of policymakers to address perceived domestic problems.…”

“…Existing research has shown the effects of Chile's neoliberal economic model on the natural environment, environmental regulation, and the actors engaged in environmental protection (Altieri and Rojas, 1999; Silva, ; Carruthers, ; Tecklin, Bauer and Prieto, ). This has been complemented by studies of specific policy areas and reforms (see Bauer, ; Sepúlveda and Villarroel, ; Borzutzky and Madden, ; Risley, ; Barandiaran, ). However, it is necessary to reassess this situation due to recent shifts in the dynamics of environmental politics in Chile: the renewed activism of environmental social movements, their increased policy influence, and the emergence of new avenues for civil society participation (Sepúlveda and Villarroel, 2012; Schaeffer, 2017; Somma and Medel, 2017; Delamaza, Maillet and Martínez, ; Madariaga and Allain, forthcoming).…”

Asimetría en el conocimiento sociotécnico: Marco teórico para estudiar conflictos medioambientales

“…Asimetría en el conocimiento sociotécnico: Marco teórico para estudiar conflictos medioambientales. Revista de Sociología, 34(1), 4-20. doi: 10.5354/0719-529X.2019.54257 Ambiental (encargado de aplicar el sistema de evaluación ambiental) y los Tribunales Ambientales (Barandiaran, 2016;Cordero & Vargas, 2016), entregando herramientas para la participación ciudadana, pero la toma de decisiones seguía estando en mano de las autoridades de turno, sin generar un mecanismo de participación vinculante efectiva, primando la utilización de los criterios técnicos para la autorización de los proyectos (Cordero & Vargas, 2016;Cuadra Montoya, 2012).…”