Case 322 - Politics of the People: The Other Side of the Oil Pipeline

Martin, Pamela L.

This case study examines the nexus between the global and local struggles surrounding natural resources, economic and sustainable development, and the environment, based on a firsthand account of a visit to the Amazon. After reviewing the geopolitical and national context surrounding the 2006 Forum on Oil, Human Rights, and Environmental Reparation in Coca, Ecuador, sponsored by the international nongovernmental organization Oilwatch, the study delves into the transnational organization and mobilization of Oilwatch in response to petroleum extraction in the developing world. It then weighs the alternatives within the saga of natural resource extraction, sustainable development, and citizen activism around the globe. This study can be used in classes on international relations, globalization, international political economy, or politics in the developing world.