The petro-political configuration: entanglements of Western and Chinese oil zones in Niger

Abstract

Abstract:The article examines the spatial, economic, political and socio-cultural transformations induced in the process of Niger becoming a new oil producer in 2011. It does so by analyzing entanglements of Western and Chinese ‘oil zones’ in Niger, which are understood as trans-territorial spaces of assemblage. I argue that the specific properties of these two oil zones have triggered the emergence of a particular ‘petro-political configuration’ in Niger. The argument proceeds through four stages. Firstly, looking at economic entanglements, I argue that the Chinese oil zone enabled the Nigerien economy to develop so-called upstream and downstream oil industries, something the Western oil zone had not allowed. Secondly, analyzing political and socio-cultural entanglements, I argue that, by being co-opted into former Nigerien president Mamadou Tandja’s political project for constitutional amendment, China’s oil diplomacy has become a kind of ‘soft power’ in Niger, something Western political rhetoric has failed to achieve. Thirdly, focusing on geopolitical and military entanglements, I argue that the militarization of global space should ensure capitalist accumulation, especially in situations in which the translation of transnational governmentality has failed. Finally, I use these entanglements to identify the heterogeneous elements of Western and Chinese ‘oil zones’, and the specific capitalist properties these assemblages generate.

An Uncertain Future - Anticipating Oil in Uganda

“…This ethnography supports the necessity of looking at oil at an early stage and before its revenues circulate "like blood through the national body" (Apter, 2005: 23). A comparison of Uganda to Niger, a new oil producer, shows remarkable similarities, such as the way oil is used as a new idiom in politics (Schritt, 2016). However, there are also certain differences, such as less urgency on the Ugandan side to produce the oil and an altogether different configuration of oil in Uganda.…”

“…Comparing the historical trajectories of oil and carbon and their impact on democracy, Timothy Mitchell (2011) points to the importance of following the oil and looking at the infrastructures of oil production to understand its impact on society. Furthering these insights from historical contextualisation, Jannik Schritt (2016) argues that oil is not a total game changer but just another way of playing the political game. By showing what is going on before any oil is actually produced, ethnographic studies add to our understanding of the dynamics in resource states.…”

“…These claims can be viewed as staking claims in the idiom of oil (Schritt, 2016;Watts, 2008). What is interesting in this case is the versatility of claims drawing on the idiom of oil and of the cultural.…”

Handbuch Poststrukturalistische Perspektiven auf soziale Bewegungen

“…Neoliberalismus) an bestimmten Orten lokalisiert werden, ohne dabei eine weltumspannende Hegemonie dieser Kräfte annehmen zu müssen. So habe ich gerade durch einen Fokus auf die lokalen Narrative des sozialen Lebens die Reibungen, Brüche und Misserfolge westlicher transnationaler Gouvernementalität im nigrischen Kontext aufdecken können und dabei argumentiert, dass politische Dynamiken in Niger nicht ausreichend mit dem vereinfachenden Konzept des Neoliberalismus als eine globale kapitalistische Kraft verstanden werden können (Schritt 2016).…”

Zwischen Neo-Fossilismus und „grüner Ökonomie“.

“…Wie Jannik Schritt (2016) am Beispiel der Republik Niger gezeigt hat, folgt die Strategie der westlichen Staaten -in diesem Fall der USA und Frankreichs -einem neokolonialen Muster, das eine enklavenförmige Industrialisierung des Landes zugunsten der internationalen Ölgesellschaften beinhaltet: Investiert wird in die Ölextraktion, während der Aufbau vor-und nachgelagerter Industriezweige vernachlässigt werde . Dies gehe einher mit einer direkten militärischen Präsenz .…”