Doctoral Dissertation Research: Natural Gas and Development in Bolivia

博士论文研究：玻利维亚天然气与发展首席研究员：简·柯林斯联合首席研究员：布伦特Z。威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校在新自由主义全球化时代的自然资源开采提出了一个悖论。由于公司寻求建立全球采购制度，原材料是以自然预先确定的形式和地点找到的，这限制了这些公司在确定其开采活动地点时的选择。因此，这些公司必然被迫面对其全球战略试图避免的自然、社会和政治困难。本研究以玻利维亚的天然气开采为例，通过以下三个主要研究问题来完善关于新自由主义全球化、自然资源开采和社会运动的社会学理论：1）新自由主义经济改革如何影响玻利维亚天然气部门内行为者的机会和限制，以及这些改革如何影响玻利维亚最近的碳氢化合物国有化？2)特定地点的社会关系如何影响天然气开采，反过来，天然气开采又如何影响特定地点的社会关系？3)天然气的物质特性如何影响不断变化的政治和经济环境？ 将进行12个月的人种学实地考察。 数据将通过访谈、主要文献来源和参与者观察收集。 访谈将与大约70个人进行，包括参与碳氢化合物部门的政府官员，开采公司的代表，参与玻利维亚天然气斗争的社会运动成员，以及开采地点的社区成员。所研究的特定自然资源和地理位置，玻利维亚的天然气，在今天具有重要的政治，经济和社会意义。 除了对资源开采和新自由主义的社会学理论作出贡献外，对玻利维亚天然气部门内部复杂动态的分析将为玻利维亚的公共政策提供信息，并将帮助传统上代表性不足的社区和土著群体确定与跨国公司谈判互利投资的杠杆点。

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Natural Gas and Development in BoliviaPrincipal Investigator: Jane CollinsCo-Principal Investigator: Brent Z. KaupUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonNatural resource extraction in an era of neoliberal globalization presents a paradox. As firms seek to establish global sourcing regimes, the fact that raw materials are found in naturally pre-determined forms and places constrains the choices such firms have in determining the locations of their extraction activities. Therefore, these firms are, of necessity, forced to face the natural, social, and political difficulties of place that their global strategies attempt to avoid. Examining the case of natural gas extraction in Bolivia, this research will refine sociological theories about neoliberal globalization, natural resource extraction, and social movements by engaging three primary research questions: 1) How have neoliberal economic reforms influenced the opportunities and constraints of the actors within Bolivia's natural gas sector and how have these reforms affected Bolivia's recent hydrocarbon nationalization? 2) How do place-specific social relations affect natural gas extraction and, in turn, how does natural gas extraction affect place-specific social relations? 3) How do the material characteristics of natural gas affect changing political and economic environments? Twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork will be conducted. Data will be collected through interviews, primary documentary sources, and participant observation. Interviews will be conducted with approximately seventy individuals, including government officials involved in the hydrocarbon sector, representatives of extraction firms, and members of social movements engaged in the struggles over Bolivia's gas, and community members in sites of extractionThe particular natural resource and geographic location under study, natural gas in Bolivia, is of great political, economic, and social importance today. In addition to contributing to sociological theories of resource extraction and neoliberalism, an analysis of the complex dynamics unfolding within Bolivia's natural gas sector will inform public policy in Bolivia and will help traditionally underrepresented communities and indigenous groups identify points of leverage through which to negotiate with transnational corporations for mutually beneficial investments.