ABSTRACT
This essay examines how expert monitors were positioned in relation to information flows in the Chad Pipeline Project. While expert monitoring bodies are described as objective and neutral third-party observers who contribute to transparency and accountability in high-risk projects, this characterization obscures how information disclosures work. The essay examines information flows as the products of power-laden processes to suggest that claims that experts are independent are not factual but are themselves informational resources. The essay also examines transparency as performative and shows how expert monitors in Chad drew attention to the standards regime and oil companies’ compliance with it even as those companies were rewriting the rules of engagement.
