Structural Injustice, Slow Violence? The Political Ecology of a "Best Practice" Hydropower Dam in Lao PDR

Bibliographic Data

ID3986186
AuthorsDavid J H Blake (Independent Scholar, Taunton, UK), David Blake (0000-0002-2453-2090), Katelyn Barney (0000-0001-5513-5066, Resources Environment and Development Group, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, corresponding author), Keith Barney
Year2018
Volume48
Issue5
Pages808-834
Publication date2018-10-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472336.2018.1482560
OpenAlexW2807868606
LanguageEN
Citations received49
References cited55

Large areas of the rural Lao landscape are being rapidly transformed by infrastructure development projects. Arguably, it is hydraulic development that is contributing most significantly to rural socio-ecological change, due to the profound socio-political ruptures dams precipitate. The nationally iconic Theun-Hinboun Hydropower Project, commissioned in 1998 and expanded in 2012, provides an illustrative case of hydropower’s complex social-ecological outcomes. Proponents have argued that the project represents a best-case example of planned, sustainable development, through successful mitigation of negative impacts and benefit-sharing with affected communities, and implemented in accordance with international good practice. This article questions the narratives of sustainability. It is argued that while the project could be considered successful in achieving certain economic objectives defined by the government and investors, evidence of social and environmental sustainability is questionable, raising questions about other dam projects in the country with weaker standards and oversight. Given the extent of negative impacts and associated social trauma in the Nam Hinboun basin, the article considers whether and to what extent such hydraulic development processes under authoritarian rule may be framed as expressions of structural injustice and slow violence

Authoritarianism · Best practice · Democracy · Economics · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Government (linguistics · Hydropower · Injustice · Political ecology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sustainability · Sustainable development · Cambodian History and Society · Ecology · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Water Governance and Infrastructure

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub