ABSTRACT
Gone are the days when the appropriation of natural resources had predictable outcomes: the exploitation by powerful strangers of land inhabited by indigenous populations, and the resulting social destitution and degradation of ecosystems. Corporate financial power and local influence, often backed by governmental support, still shape many of these disputes, but over the last decades these forces have become less effective and have been matched by increasingly active and vocal resistance movements mounting carefully orchestrated campaigns. This global collision has led to projects being seen as “highly controversial,” put on hold or being abandoned altogether. Plans for pipelines such as Keystone XL in the United States, Northern Gateway in Canada, or resource extraction projects such as Roşia Montană in Romania have been stalled for years (Rogers and Ethridge, 2014; Preston, 2013). A kind of evolutionary warfare developed between supporters and opponents. Each side mustered ever more sophisticated rationalizations, the former by playing up economic benefits and the environmental “sustainability” of their investment, the latter painting scenarios of ecological damage, impacts on climate change, and disrespect for the natural beauty and social history of the affected areas.
