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

这项研究项目考察了厄瓜多尔的基层活动家团体和非政府组织(NGO)如何动员跨国网络向国家和石油行业施压。该项目比较了厄瓜多尔四个社区在回应石油管道Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados(OCP：Lago Agrio、Mindo、Esmeraldas和Quito)建设时的支持和有争议的联盟、要求和策略。该项目旨在了解石化过程中不同地点的这些不同社区如何跨越国界，向国际机构施压，要求支持和协助要求地方和国家一级的索赔。该项目还比较了当地积极分子组织的活动可能在多大程度上推进一个更大的、意想不到的目标：增加和大幅度的社区参与，并评估了加强跨国相互联系和国际监管制度(如世界银行)和国际监管制度对当地参与的影响。这项民族志研究调查了民间社会如何推动成为定义正义、发展和民主的推动者，并展示了它在自治中的决策能力和作用。该项目侧重于以下问题：1)厄瓜多尔社区团体、非政府组织和非政府组织的身份、对手、目标和要求是什么？它们如何相互协作或边缘化？2)利益相关者如何构建环境和社会影响以及发展问题的框架，以吸引当地基础团体、多国支持网络和国际机构？3)提出主张和/或要求在社区和自然资源决策中发挥更大作用的组织的当地、区域和国际参与者是什么？该项目的更广泛影响包括利用研究结果向世界银行和货币基金组织等国际机构以及大型项目的跨国资助者通报其政策对当地社区的影响。研究成果还将使研究人员和政策制定者了解环境正义和社会政治发展对政治参与的后果，将在社区讲习班上发表，并在流行的印刷媒体、学术期刊和多学科专业会议上发表。

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.