ABSTRACT
New environmental rules were enacted during the recent resource boom cycle in Peru. Are these new institutions signaling a new phase of Peru’s cursed relationship with the exploitation of natural resources? This chapter aims to answer this question by problematizing the isomorphic institutional change of environmental rules regarding extractive industries. Isomorphism (the diffusion of ideas, institutions, organizations and policies by the growing pressure of international organizations and transnational networks) was crucial in overcoming old formal institutional arrangements, but the forging of isomorphic institutions did not require the dismantling of power embedded in old practices, which can potentially undermine new institutions. Neither did this isomorphic process of institutional change induce political or social actors to defend these new rules. Thus, this chapter argues that these new institutions do not escape the cursed path, but gradually reproduce weak institutions. The methodology is a case study elaborated in 2019, based on the analysis of official documents, newspaper articles and interviews.
