ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the new mechanisms of influence and the ways in which strategies for leveraging their negotiating power have helped indigenous communities reach agreements with oil companies as well as resist particular aspects of development. Oil revenues were used to finance a variety of public initiatives, including electrification programmes, universities, ambitious infrastructure and social service programmes, large energy and food subsidies, and tax breaks. A significant amount of funds were spent to heavily subsidise domestic petroleum products at half the cost of production, dramatically increasing domestic consumption of petroleum. Developments in Ecuador's indigenous rights movement in the Amazon rainforest during the past decade offer a basis on which to consider a new form of transnational advocacy network and a modified boomerang model. Amazon Watch's role in the Chevron shareholder transnational advocacy network is nearly identical to its position in the Burlington Resources network: the organisation acts as the primary bridge between shareholders and national or local actors in Ecuador.
