Doctoral Dissertation Research: Transnational Activism Oil Politics and Environmental Justice in Ecuador

Brown University, Providence RI

Investigators

Abstract

This research project examines how grassroots activist groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Ecuador mobilize transnational networks to pressure the state and the oil industry. This project compares the supportive and contentious alliances, demands, and tactics of four communities in Ecuador as they respond to the construction of the oil pipeline Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados (OCP:Lago Agrio, Mindo, Esmeraldas, and Quito. The project seeks to understand how these diverse communities at different locations in the petrochemical process transcend national borders to press international institutions for support and assistance in demanding local and national -level claims. The project compares also the extent to which the activities of local activist organizations may advance a greater, unintened goal: Increased and substantial community-level participation and assesses the consequences of increased transnational interconnectedness and international regulatory regimes, such as the World Bank, and international on local participation. This ethnographic research investigates how civil society pushes to become the agent that defines justice, development, and democracy and that demonstrates its decision-making capacities and role in self-governance. The project focuses on the following questions: 1) What are the identities, adversaries, goals, and demands of the community groups, NGOs and INGOs in Ecuador? How do they collaborate or marginalize each other? 2) How do stakeholders frame issues of environmental and social impacts and development to appeal to a local base groups, multinational support networks, and international institutions? 3) On what local, regional, and international actors are the organizations making claims and/or demanding a greater role in community and natural resource decision-making? This project's broader impacts include the utility of research findings to inform international institutions, such as the World Bank and IMF as well as multinational financiers of large-scale projects about the impact of their policies on local communities. Research results also will inform researchers and policymakers about the consequences for political participation of environmental justice and social-political development will be presented at community workshops and published in popular print media, as well as academic journals and multidisciplinary professional conferences.