FORD LASA Special Projects Sixth Cycle Project Proposal

FORD LASA Special Projects Sixth Cycle Project Proposal Environmental networks in state and society: a comparative view of the Southern Cone Proponents Dr. Rebecca Abers, Political Science Institute, University of Brasília, Brazil (rebecca.abers@gmail.com) Dr. Marisa von Bülow, Political Science Institute, University of Brasília, Brazil (marisavonbulow@gmail.com) Dr. Ricardo A. Gutiérrez, Political Science School, National University of San Martin, Argentina (newgutix@gmail.com) Presentation This proposal requests seed money for the construction of an international collaborative project that examines how the variation in patterns of state society relationships among Southern Cone countries affects environmental activism and policy making. We propose to build on previous research on Brazil and Argentina to design a comparative project of state society relationships in the Southern Cone (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile). Our research in related fields on Brazil and Argentina (Abers and Keck, 2009; Gutiérrez 2008; 2010; Gutiérrez and Almeira, 2011; von Bülow and Abers, 2011) has shown that, although in both countries strong environmental civil society organizations and coalitions of organizations have developed, they have very different relationships with the state, especially at the national level. Whereas in Brazil activists and organizations tend to establish a close collaborative relationship with the state, in Argentina interactions have been much more contentious. This entails different repertoires of activism, different network structures, and different organizational and political patterns within state agencies. Our purpose is to explore these differences among a broader group of countries to better understand their implications for both activism and policy making around environmental issues. Objectives Our main goal in this project is to expand existing collaborative efforts among the proponents to include other Southern Cone researchers by designing a collaborative research project, for which we will seek more significant funding. The project will draw on an already existing collaboration between scholars and students from the University of Brasilia (Brazil) and the Universidad Nacional de San Martín (Argentina). The proponents have collaborated for over a decade in research on water politics and social movements. Gutiérrez and von Bülow were graduate students under Margaret Keck at Johns Hopkins University at the same time that Abers and Keck were collaborating extensively, especially through an inter institutional research project on water politics in Brazil called the Watermark Project. Gutiérrez and Abers more recently worked together in the analysis of data collected by that project (Abers, ed., 2010). Abers and von Bülow have also long worked together on issues related to civil society and social movements, recently writing on the ABERS, GUTIÉRREZ AND VON BÜLOW ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORKS IN STATE AND SOCIETY 1/5

theoretical implications of the changing relationship between social movements and the state in Brazil (von Bülow and Abers, 2011). In 2011, our Institutes began a two year exchange program which will allow for students and professors to spend time abroad at each institution, funded by the Brazilian research agency, CAPES, and the Argentinian Secretariat for University Policies (SPU). We now are seeking to develop a broader network of researchers studying state society relations in environmental politics in the Southern Cone, one of the world s richest natural resources reserves. With Ford LASA funds, we hope to map out a group of researchers based both in Latin America and in the United States, and bring them together in two workshops to compare previous research, develop a common conceptual framework, and design a comparative methodology. In addition to designing a collaborative research proposal, the project will strengthen ties among Southern Cone scholars of environmental politics and create opportunities for graduate students to get involved in comparative research. Finally, this initiative will facilitate our efforts to develop joint courses on environmental policies in our institutions and will strengthen our ongoing dialogue about teaching tools, which are also goals of the CAPES SPU program mentioned above. 3. The Research Problem. Our central question for research is: what is the impact of different patterns of state society interaction on the environmental policy making process? Latin American scholars have long been interested in analyzing the complex relationships between the state and civil society in the region. From dependency theory and the studies about populism and corporatism during authoritarian periods, to social movement studies in transition periods, and more recent studies about new arenas for institutionalized participation in the post transition, the Latin American literature has contributed to the larger theoretical debate in the social sciences about the frontiers between the state and society. Despite this tradition, however, we know little about recent transformations in state and society relations, which have, apparently, tended to soften the boundary between those spheres. Political research in most countries has focused either on formal politics and political parties or on civil society organizations. Discussions on the interaction between state institutions and civil society, where they have occurred, mostly have focused on new formal arenas for participation created, especially by progressive or left wing governments. Most of these debates continue to presume that state and civil society are separate organizational spheres that interact only in formal decision making arenas. Our research suggests that, especially in Brazil, this presumption is no longer valid (Abers and Keck, 2009; Gutiérrez, 2008; von Bülow and Abers, 2011). In that country, social movement networks frequently cross the boundaries between state and society. Not only do civil society activists interact intensely with state actors, but they often join governments as bureaucrats and political appointees. This phenomenon seems to be particularly strong in the environmental policy area, as is demonstrated by Hochstetler and Keck s ABERS, GUTIÉRREZ AND VON BÜLOW ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORKS IN STATE AND SOCIETY 2/5

(2007) book on Brazilian environmentalism. In Argentina, like Brazil, environmental social movement networks and policy institutions have developed intensely over the last two decades. Nonetheless, the boundary crossing activism identified in Brazil is less common there. Instead, environmental movements tend to stick to more traditional social movement roles, either working outside the state, or through contentious activism (Gutiérrez, 2010; Gutiérrez and Almeira, 2011; Palermo and Reboratti, 2007; Reboratti, 2008; Svampa and Antonelli, 2009). The differences test conventional theories of both civil society and the state. The literature on social movements and civil society has traditionally presumed that activism occurs both outside and against the state. On the one hand, habermasian approaches to civil society envision it as ideally self limited, since the separation between state and civil society is seen as important for preserving the autonomy of civil society organizations (Cohen and Arato, 1992). On the other hand, the political process and contentious politics approaches to social movements (McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly, 2001) give priority to social movements that try to change state policies, but still presume that movements and governments are separate organizational spheres (von Bülow and Abers, 2011). The Brazilian environmental policy system, which has absorbed not only large numbers of civil society activists, but also is dominated by a highly ideological pro conservation bureaucracy, challenges this separation. The Argentinian case, on the other hand, suggests a less permeable state structure perceived by civil society actors mainly as a target of protest. These different patterns raise interesting questions not only about how different political contexts produce different civil society organizing patterns, but also about the internal structure of state institutions in different countries. As Dagnino, Olvera and Panfichi (2006) suggest, the Latin American state can no longer be understood as a monolithic block. To understand varied patterns of state society interactions, we need to examine not only different ways that civil society organizes but the organizational structures of different state agencies and varied forms of permeability and conflict between them and civil society actors. We intend to expand our initial work beyond the comparison between Argentina and Brazil to look at other Southern Cone countries to explore several questions: Why do the relations between state institutions and civil society organizations evolve differently? Which patterns are more common? What are the impacts of these differences on the policy process? Exploring these questions will have relevance not only for the study of social movements and civil society, but also for the study of the Latin American state (especially the Executive branch) and of new trends in the policy making process in that region. 4. Activities Ford LASA funds will be used for holding two workshops with Southern Cone researchers, one in Brasília in the early stage of the project and another in Buenos Aires approximately eight months later. The first workshop will bring together an initial group of researchers, including not only Abers, Gutiérrez and von Bülow (proponents of this project), but also approximately six (still to be defined) researchers ABERS, GUTIÉRREZ AND VON BÜLOW ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORKS IN STATE AND SOCIETY 3/5

currently studying environmental policies and movements in other countries in the Southern Cone. Although the focus will be on bringing together researchers, if funding allows we will also invite a small number of NGO and state actors in state agencies located in Brasilia and Buenos Aires (both national capitals). At the workshop, scholars will present papers on their current research and discuss a position paper to be written by Abers, Gutiérrez and von Bülow on the general conceptual problem. At the end of the workshop, participants will agree on a set of preparatory activities for designing a broader research proposal, such as conducting more systematic preliminary research and literature review in each country and identifying possible funding sources. The results of these activities should be available well before the second workshop to allow the project coordinators to design a preliminary research proposal. The second workshop will bring together the same researchers (along with others who may have been identified through the process) to discuss the preliminary proposal and agree upon the basic characteristics of the final one. The result of the second workshop, therefore, would be a well defined research proposal which could be presented to potential funding sources. Total amount requested: US$ 12,500 (additional sources of funding will be sought after, if necessary. The University of Brasilia and the National University of San Martín will provide the basic infrastructure for the workshops). 5. Participants. The proponents of this project are Rebecca Abers, Ricardo Gutiérrez and Marisa von Bülow. Over the course of the project, we will identify other participants who will be invited to the workshops. Rebecca Abers is professor of political science at the University of Brasília. She has a Ph.D in Urban and Regional planning from the University of California, Los Angeles and has been studying state society relations and participatory policy making since the early 1990s. She is the author of the book, Inventing Local Democracy: Grassroots politics in Brazil (Lynne Rienner, 2000) on the Participatory Budget experience of Porto Alegre and for much of the last decade coordinated the Watermark Project, an international network of researchers on water policy in Brazil. She is currently completing a book with Margaret Keck on the politics of water policy reform in Brazil. Ricardo A. Gutiérrez is professor of political science and CONICET researcher at the National University of San Martín. He holds a PhD in political science from Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of Between Knowledge and Politics: Experts and Water Management Reform In Brazil (VDM Verlag, 2008) and has published articles and book chapters on different aspects of environmental politics in Argentina and Brazil. He was an active member of the Watermark Project for almost a decade and is currently conducting two projects on environmental politics, funded by Argentinian research agencies. Marisa von Bülow is professor of political science and vice director of the Political Science Institute at the University of Brasilia. She hold a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Building transnational networks: civil society and the politics of trade in the Americas (Cambridge ABERS, GUTIÉRREZ AND VON BÜLOW ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORKS IN STATE AND SOCIETY 4/5

University Press, 2010) and has published many articles and book chapters on social movements in Latin America. As mentioned earlier, the three proponents have been engaged in collaborative research efforts for the last ten years, both through the Watermark Project and through more specific research efforts. We have recently expanded this relationship into an institutional partnership through a collaboration agreement between our academic departments. Our hope with this project is to begin a process of expanding this international research network to other countries, in the hopes of strengthening ties among researchers from different countries in the emerging field of environmental politics. 6. References Abers, Rebecca Neaera (ed), 2010. Água e Política: Atores, Instituições e Poder nos Organismos e Colegiados de Bacia Hidrográfica no Brasil. São Paulo, Annablume. Abers, Rebecca Neaera and Keck, Margaret E., 2009. Mobilizing the State: The Erratic Partner in Brazil s Participatory Water Policy. Politics and Society, 37 (2): 289 314. Cohen, Jean L. and Andrew Arato. 1992, Civil Society and Political Theory.Cambridge, Ma, MIT. Dagnino, Evelina; Olvera, Alberto J.; Panfichi, Aldo, 2006. Para uma outra leitura da disputa pela construção democrática na América Latina. IN: Dagnino, Evelina; Olvera, Alberto J.; Panfichi, Aldo, orgs. A Disputa pela Construção Democrática na América Latina. São Paulo, Paz e Terra, 13 92. Gutiérrez, Ricardo A. 2008. Between Knowledge and Politics: Experts and Water Management Reform In Brazil. Saarbrücken, VDM Verlag. Gutiérrez, Ricardo A. 2010. Theory and Praxis of Environmental Rights in Argentina. In Proceedings of the XXIX International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association. Toronto, Canada. http://lasa.international.pitt.edu. Gutiérrez, Ricardo A., and Almeira, Gustavo, 2011 Global Production, Local Protest, and Environmental Foreign Policy: Argentina and the Uruguay River Pulp Mill Projects. In The Dark Side of Globalization, edited by Jorge Heine and Ramesh Thakur, 229 248. Tokio: United Nations University Press. Hochstetler, Kathryn, 2002. After the Boomerang: Environmental Movements and Politics in the La Plata River Basin. Global Environmental Politics, 2(4):35 56. Hochstetler, Kathryn and Keck, Margaret E., 2007. Greening Brazil: Environmental Activism in State and Society. Durham, North Carolina, Duke University Press. McAdam, Doug; Tarrow, Sidney; Tilly, Charles, 2001. Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press. Palermo, Vicente, and Reboratti, Carlos (eds.), 2007. Del otro lado del río: ambientalismo y política entre uruguayos y argentinos. Buenos Aires: Edhasa. Reboratti, Carlos. 2008. Environmental Conflicts and Environmental Justice in Argentina. In Environmental Justice in Latin America: Problems, Promise, and Practice, edited by David V. Carruthers, 101 117. Cambridge and London: The MIT Press, 2008. Svampa, Maristella, and Antonelli, Mirta A. eds., 2009. Minería transnacional, narrativas del desarrollo y resistencias sociales. Buenos Aires: Biblos, 2009. Von Bülow, Marisa, and Abers, Rebecca, 2011. As transformações do estudo dos movimentos sociais: como estudar o ativismo através da fronteira entre estado e sociedade. IPSA EPCR Joint Conference: Whatever Happened to North South, São Paulo, 16 19 de fevereiro de 2011. ABERS, GUTIÉRREZ AND VON BÜLOW ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORKS IN STATE AND SOCIETY 5/5