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The Fracking Frontier in the United States: A Case Study of Foreign Investment, Civil Liberties and Land Ethics in the Shale Industry

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  • Eve Bratman
  • Ted Auch
  • Bryan Stinchfield

Abstract

This article provides a fresh perspective on the unconventional oil and gas (hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’) industry in the Appalachian and Midwestern regions of the United States. It presents a case study of this industry in relation to development, democracy and the environment. The article utilizes neocolonialism as a heuristic device and analyses the fracking industry in relation to processes of capital expansion in resource frontiers. It identifies a two‐pronged paradox at the heart of the US energy independence rhetoric. First, the political‐economic reality is one in which the companies involved in promoting energy independence are in fact dependent on considerable amounts of foreign direct investment. Second, despite the purported ‘freedom’ offered through such energy sources, many legal measures associated with the industry ultimately detract from civil liberties, rights to private land and local sovereignty over decision making. Centrally, this article argues that political and economic relationships within this industry may undermine democratic participation and representative government. The case study demonstrates how relationships of coloniality in the fracking industry involve dynamics of land loss, ethical shifts in relation to land, and a lack of local property rights controls that are derivative of natural resource extraction on resource frontiers.

Suggested Citation

  • Eve Bratman & Ted Auch & Bryan Stinchfield, 2022. "The Fracking Frontier in the United States: A Case Study of Foreign Investment, Civil Liberties and Land Ethics in the Shale Industry," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(3), pages 469-494, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:53:y:2022:i:3:p:469-494
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12707
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jacob L. Stump, 2021. "Producing zones of neediness in world politics: missionaries, educators, and a cultural political economy of colonialism in Appalachia," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(5), pages 1119-1141, October.
    2. Wendy Wolford & Saturnino M. Borras Jr. & Ruth Hall & Ian Scoones & Ben White & Madeleine Fairbairn, 2013. "Indirect Dispossession: Domestic Power Imbalances and Foreign Access to Land in Mozambique," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 44(2), pages 335-356, March.
    3. Harvey, David, 2005. "The New Imperialism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199278084.
    4. Eve Bratman, 2011. "Development's Paradox: is Washington DC a Third World city?," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(9), pages 1541-1556.
    5. Lukas Hermwille & Lisa Sanderink, 2019. "Make Fossil Fuels Great Again? The Paris Agreement, Trump, and the USFossil Fuel Industry," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 19(4), pages 45-62, November.
    6. Paul J. J. Welfens, 2019. "The Global Trump," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-21784-6, September.
    7. Andreas Goldthau & Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2016. "Energy Technology, Politics, and Interpretative Frames: Shale Gas Fracking in Eastern Europe," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(4), pages 50-69, November.
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