Harnessing 'Wasted' Waters
Conservation, Hydropower and the Origins of Chile's National Electrification Plan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3459643 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter B De Montmollin (University of British Columbia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 215-239 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Latin American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-216X • E-ISSN: 1469-767X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0022216x23000299 |
| OpenAlex | W4368370989 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 12 |
This article examines the origins of national electrification in Chile, situating its technocratic promoters within a broad trend - unfolding across Latin America - toward the 'rational' management and conservation of natural resources by the state. It surveys the early history of Chilean electrification (1890s-1940s) to show how conservationist thinking flowed through discussions and debates among engineers about the proper uses of the country's waters. These ideas eventually shaped the 1943 national electrification plan, which focused on hydropower. The article sheds new light on the history of Chile's technocracy, the relationship between perceptions of the environment and development planning, and the political and economic debates over national electrification. It also shows how the conservationist dilemma of using versus preserving natural resources operated within a utilitarian and highly technical framework for thinking about nature's bounty. The article thus contributes to recent historical scholarship on conservation and environmental technocrats in Latin America
Dilemma · Electricity · Electrification · Environmental ethics · Hydropower · Latin Americans · Natural resource · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · Technocracy · American Environmental and Regional History · Ecology · Engineering · Law · Politics and Society in Latin America · Public Administration · Water Governance and Infrastructure
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |