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Social mobilization against large hydroelectric dams: A comparison of Ethiopia, Brazil, and Panama

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  • Andrea Schapper
  • Christine Unrau
  • Sarah Killoh

Abstract

Large‐scale hydroelectric dams have—throughout their history—had adverse impacts on local population groups, natural resources, and entire eco‐systems furthering resistance and protest against them. In this paper, we aim to investigate the impact of social mobilization against large‐scale dams by considering political opportunity structures, actor constellations, and frames. We comparatively analyze three case studies in varying political systems, that is, Gibe III in Ethiopia, Belo Monte in Brazil, and Barro Blanco in Panama. Our investigation is based on field research in these countries comprising data collection of governmental reports, newspaper articles, materials published by civil society organizations, and semi‐structured interviews. The analysis reveals that the impact of mobilization against dams is certainly limited in contexts with authoritarian governments. In democratic contexts, the impact depends on the degree of external involvement, as well as the ability of movements to avoid fracture, especially in view of temporal dimensions of large infrastructure projects.

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  • Andrea Schapper & Christine Unrau & Sarah Killoh, 2020. "Social mobilization against large hydroelectric dams: A comparison of Ethiopia, Brazil, and Panama," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 413-423, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:28:y:2020:i:2:p:413-423
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.1995
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    Cited by:

    1. Magdalena Bexell & Thomas Hickmann & Andrea Schapper, 2023. "Strengthening the Sustainable Development Goals through integration with human rights," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 133-139, June.
    2. Bin Xue & Bingsheng Liu & Tao Liang & Dong Zhao & Tao Wang & Xingbin Chen, 2022. "A heterogeneous decision criteria system evaluating sustainable infrastructure development: From the lens of multidisciplinary stakeholder engagement," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 556-579, August.
    3. Ruilian Zhang & John R. Owen & Deanna Kemp & Guoqing Shi, 2022. "An applied framework for assessing the relative deprivation of dam‐affected communities," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 176-190, February.

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