Benedicte Bull | University of Oslo (original) (raw)
Papers by Benedicte Bull
ABSTRACT Since colonial times the position of the social, political and economic elites in Latin ... more ABSTRACT Since colonial times the position of the social, political and economic elites in Latin America has been intimately connected to their control over natural resources. Consequently, struggles to protect the environment from over-exploitation and contamination have been related to marginalized groups’ struggles againstlocal, national and transnational elites. The recent rise of progressive, left-leaning governments – often supported by groups struggling for environmental justice – has challenged the established elites and raised expectations about new regimes for natural resource management. Based on case-studies in eight Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, El Salvador and Guatemala), this book investigates the extent to which there have been elite shifts, how new governments have related to old elites, and how that has impacted on environmental governance and the management of natural resources. It examines the rise of new cadres of technocrats and the old economic and political elites’ struggle to remain influential. The book also discusses the challenges faced in trying to overcome structural inequalities to ensure a more sustainable and equitable governance of natural resources. This timely book will be of great interest to researchers and masters students in development studies, environmental management and governance, geography, political science and Latin American area studies.
International Handbook on Public–Private Partnerships, 2010
International Journal of Tourism Research, 1999
Routledge Studies in International Business and the World Economy, 2008
The 2003-2013 decade was one of significant economic growth and progress on social indicators inc... more The 2003-2013 decade was one of significant economic growth and progress on social indicators including poverty- and inequality reduction for most Latin American countries. This chapter reviews the policies and politics behind the progress experienced. It shows that there are major differences across countries: those governed by center-left governments have adopted a developmental regional nationalism, while others have continued to pursue neo-liberal development policies. Both models face significant challenges and if current patterns continue, Latin America is likely to experience further reduction in poverty and inequality, but also deepening of over-exploitation of natural resources and environmental conflicts.
Social responsibility in business (RSE) has become a theme for discussion and analysis among many... more Social responsibility in business (RSE) has become a theme for discussion and analysis among many actors in activist movements, as well as in the business community. This article comments various areas of study that are related to this upsurge in RSE. It is argued that in order to advance in the study of RSE as a development tool, it is necessary to include a third perspective: that of political economy. The hypothesis on which this is based is that RSE conduct depends on two relationships: a) the relationship of the economic sector and the productive sector to which a business pertains, and b) the relationship between the state and the business sector. The conclusion is that in spite of the exaggerated emphasis on RSE, it is necessary to study more profoundly the relationship government-business. In this paper we have focused on the proposal to include business in the political economy. It is still necessary to analytically study why certain businesses are more socially responsible...
This chapter discusses the impact that the rise of the emerging economies on development theory a... more This chapter discusses the impact that the rise of the emerging economies on development theory and research. It does so by discussing the evolution of development research and how it has fragmented and adapted to changing geo-political realities. It argues that emerging economies have exemplified a new path towards development understood as industrial growth and technological upgrading with the effect of restoring this post World War II development concept and strategies that had lost favor from the 1970s onwards. However, they pursue these in a new geopolitical context, in which emerging economies themselves increasingly influence international development institutions and subsequently also development research and theory.
Since colonial times the position of the social, political and economic elites in Latin America h... more Since colonial times the position of the social, political and economic elites in Latin America has been intimately connected to their control over natural resources. Consequently, struggles to protect the environment from over-exploitation and contamination have been related to marginalized groups’ struggles againstlocal, national and transnational elites. The recent rise of progressive, left-leaning governments – often supported by groups struggling for environmental justice – has challenged the established elites and raised expectations about new regimes for natural resource management. Based on case-studies in eight Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, El Salvador and Guatemala), this book investigates the extent to which there have been elite shifts, how new governments have related to old elites, and how that has impacted on environmental governance and the management of natural resources. It examines the rise of new cadres of technoc...
ABSTRACT Business Groups and Transnational Capitalism in Central America investigates Central Ame... more ABSTRACT Business Groups and Transnational Capitalism in Central America investigates Central America's political economy through the lens of its powerful diversified business groups. It provides unique insight into their strategies when confronted with a globalized economy, their impact on development, and how they shape the political and economic institutions governing local varieties of capitalism. This study is based on the collection of data on sixty-nine of the largest groups from the six countries of the isthmus – Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama – and combines qualitative and quantitative methods. It seeks to analyze historical trajectories of individual groups and their evolution in distinct national contexts as well as their contributions to innovation and exports. The analysis shows that the business groups have formed alliances with multinational companies (MNCs), but are not in the process of being absorbed by them. Rather they shift sector focus and exploit their networks in order to face competition from MNCs.
Global Governance, 2004
... issues, such as sup-port for health systems and personnel training, to underfunded public sys... more ... issues, such as sup-port for health systems and personnel training, to underfunded public sys-tems ... ignores years of cumulative experience that points to the need for an integrated health approach.16 Another and related critique is that private sector engagement may ...
El tema de las elites ha sido controversial en las ciencias sociales latinoamericanas. Se les ha ... more El tema de las elites ha sido controversial en las ciencias sociales
latinoamericanas. Se les ha estudiado indirectamente como terratenientes,
capitalistas, líderes empresariales o políticos y, también,
fueron abordadas directamente utilizando conceptos y teorías de
los estudios de la elite. Aunque existe una cantidad significativa de
literatura sobre el papel de las elites en las transformaciones democráticas
(ver, por ejemplo, Highley y Gunther, 1992), a menudo las
elites han sido consideradas como un obstáculo para la formación
de sociedades más democráticas, prósperas e igualitarias (ver, por
ejemplo, Paige, 1997; Cimoli y Rovira, 2008). Este también es el
caso de la literatura sobre gobernanza ambiental, en el cual los grupos
de elite a menudo son considerados como un obstáculo para el
desarrollo sostenible y para establecer un enfoque más equitativo
sobre el uso y aprovechamiento de los recursos naturales. Por lo
tanto, a pesar de que en América Latina haya existido un movimiento
de conservación elitista, desde hace mucho tiempo, las luchas
para proteger el medio ambiente de la sobreexplotación y la contaminación
estuvieron invariablemente relacionadas con las luchas a de grupos subalternos contra las elites locales, nacionales y transnacionales
(Carruthers, 2008; Martínez-Alier, 2002; y los capítulos 2
y 3 de este libro).
En la última década, han ocurrido en América Latina una serie
de cambios que podrían tener cierto impacto en la composición y
las actitudes de las elites. Estos cambios podrían tener consecuencias
para la gobernanza ambiental en el sentido amplio del concepto,
como se indica en el primer capítulo de este volumen. De las
49 elecciones presidenciales en el período 2003-2013, 22 fueron ganadas
por candidatos de centroizquierda y, a excepción de México
y Colombia, durante la mayor parte de este período, los gobiernos
de centroizquierda ascendieron al poder en todas las grandes economías
en América Latina (Bull, 2014). Muchos de estos gobiernos
representan grupos que habían sido marginados de la política y confrontado
a las elites, incluyendo los movimientos indígenas y socioambientales.
Con los cambios en la economía política global, entre
los que se incluyen el avance de China y varias economías emergentes,
América Latina presenció el ingreso de una serie de nuevos actores
económicos, incluyendo nuevas compañías transnacionales y
nuevos prestamistas. Por otra parte, en los sectores clave las nuevas
tecnologías cambiaron la estructura de la producción y, por tanto,
también la concentración de los recursos –y a su vez, posiblemente la composición de las elites.
A pesar de estos cambios, se disipó el optimismo inicial con respecto
a las implicancias para la gobernanza ambiental. En 2010, el
ecologista Eduardo Gudynas les preguntó retóricamente a los nuevos
gobiernos: ¿si son tan progresistas, por qué destruyen el medio
ambiente? (Gudynas, 2010). Subsecuentemente, fueron formuladas
numerosas y variadas preguntas acerca de por qué los gobiernos que
rechazaron públicamente la agricultura genéticamente modificada
luego la promovieron; por qué aceleraron la licitación de las concesiones
mineras a pesar de las protestas de sus propios electores; o por
qué se ampliaron la extracción y explotación petrolera en áreas vulnerables
a pesar de las promesas proteccionistas.
El objetivo de este capítulo es iluminar la dinámica de las elites,
para dar respuestas a algunas de las preguntas señaladas anteriormente.
Basado en material empírico de seis estudios del caso, este
capítulo examina los cambios de las elites , esbozando la forma en que
surgieron las nuevas elites, cómo las viejas elites continuaron influyendo
en la política y la economía y, cómo la relación entre las nuevas
y viejas elites ha afectado la gobernanza ambiental en la región.
A common conclusion of studies on Central America’s democracies and political economy is that the... more A common conclusion of studies on Central America’s democracies and political economy
is that the weakness of institutions and the strength of elites are a main reason for the region’s
problems. Recently, a set of studies have attempted to scrutinize these elites in detail,
focussing on their strategies and resources. The purpose of this article is to reflect upon what
these studies can tell us about the question: what is strong when institutions are weak? I
argue that in the Northern Triangle particularly the answer is elite networks and their command
over and competition for the control over four sets of resources: money, means of
force, information, and ideas and ideologies, including religion. A systematic study of such
networks and how they interact with formal institutions may give us a more realistic view of
the current state of Central American political economies. Keywords: Central America, institutions,
political economy, elites, networks
El Salvador is often viewed as the quintessence of a Latin American oligarchic state, in which a ... more El Salvador is often viewed as the quintessence of a Latin American oligarchic state, in which a small group of families controlled the agro-export economy and the state, in shifting alliances with the military. This model not only resulted in marginalization of peasant farmers and widespread rural poverty, but also the most severe deforestation in the hemisphere, as well as soil-degradation and water-pollution, particularly in the cotton and sugar producing zones. However, El Salvador has undergone a thorough economic shift since the 1980s towards being a largely service-based economy highly dependent on the remittances from Salvadoran guest-workers in the United States, but with a weak performance in terms of economic growth, poverty reduction and job generation. When the government backed by the left-wing party and former guerrilla, Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) took power they were faced with the triple challenge of restoring national growth and production, of ensuring a more equitable distribution and of overcoming the deep environmental crisis and severe impacts of climatic change that El Salvador suffered from. However, in order to implement the ambitious plans for the transformation of the economic model into a more sustainable one, the government depended on cooperation with the old economic elites for tax-income and investments. This case study focuses on the evolution of the relationship between the government and the economic elites and implications for environmental governance. It shows how the government's attempts to establish non-hierarchical, multi-stakeholder governance initiatives have been hampered by the extreme structural weakness of the state confronted with the economic elites, and by the deep politicization of the economic elites. Indeed, the elites have rejected regulation and governance mechanisms even where they would have invoked limited costs and could have signified new economic opportunities, due to the political antagonism between the economic elite and the government. The paper discusses the implications of this for theories of environmental governance.
This paper seeks to outline key concepts and hypotheses for the study of elites in environmental ... more This paper seeks to outline key concepts and hypotheses for the study of elites in environmental governance in Latin America. It starts with pointing to an alleged "black boxing" of elites in most studies of environmental governance in the region. It further discusses different definitions of elites and views on how elites change in the general literature, and proposes a resource based view on elites embedding them in the control of four different kinds of resources: economic, political, social and knowledge. This is followed by a discussion of the relationship between elites and non-elites and the importance of the dynamics between different elite groups. The paper ends with an outline of how to study elites in environmental governance in Latin America.
Latin America is currently characterised by the rise of a number of strong social movements and t... more Latin America is currently characterised by the rise of a number of strong social movements and the election of governments that have their support. This has given rise to hopes for the emergence of more inclusive political systems, and stable democracies. However, many of the new regimes either show limited ability to create significant change in policies or practices for ensuring social inclusion, or have produced new forms of fragmentation and social conflicts. What are the long-term prospects of democratic inclusion of the social movements? This article approaches this question through a comparison of three current social movements in Latin Americathe Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil, the coca growers (cocaleros) movement in Bolivia and the movement of the unemployed @iquetems) in Argentinawith the experience of the Norwegian labour movement in the early 20th century. It argues that the inclusion of social movements depends on their own internal structure and strategies as well as the state's institutional capacity and the global politic-economic context.
ABSTRACT Since colonial times the position of the social, political and economic elites in Latin ... more ABSTRACT Since colonial times the position of the social, political and economic elites in Latin America has been intimately connected to their control over natural resources. Consequently, struggles to protect the environment from over-exploitation and contamination have been related to marginalized groups’ struggles againstlocal, national and transnational elites. The recent rise of progressive, left-leaning governments – often supported by groups struggling for environmental justice – has challenged the established elites and raised expectations about new regimes for natural resource management. Based on case-studies in eight Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, El Salvador and Guatemala), this book investigates the extent to which there have been elite shifts, how new governments have related to old elites, and how that has impacted on environmental governance and the management of natural resources. It examines the rise of new cadres of technocrats and the old economic and political elites’ struggle to remain influential. The book also discusses the challenges faced in trying to overcome structural inequalities to ensure a more sustainable and equitable governance of natural resources. This timely book will be of great interest to researchers and masters students in development studies, environmental management and governance, geography, political science and Latin American area studies.
International Handbook on Public–Private Partnerships, 2010
International Journal of Tourism Research, 1999
Routledge Studies in International Business and the World Economy, 2008
The 2003-2013 decade was one of significant economic growth and progress on social indicators inc... more The 2003-2013 decade was one of significant economic growth and progress on social indicators including poverty- and inequality reduction for most Latin American countries. This chapter reviews the policies and politics behind the progress experienced. It shows that there are major differences across countries: those governed by center-left governments have adopted a developmental regional nationalism, while others have continued to pursue neo-liberal development policies. Both models face significant challenges and if current patterns continue, Latin America is likely to experience further reduction in poverty and inequality, but also deepening of over-exploitation of natural resources and environmental conflicts.
Social responsibility in business (RSE) has become a theme for discussion and analysis among many... more Social responsibility in business (RSE) has become a theme for discussion and analysis among many actors in activist movements, as well as in the business community. This article comments various areas of study that are related to this upsurge in RSE. It is argued that in order to advance in the study of RSE as a development tool, it is necessary to include a third perspective: that of political economy. The hypothesis on which this is based is that RSE conduct depends on two relationships: a) the relationship of the economic sector and the productive sector to which a business pertains, and b) the relationship between the state and the business sector. The conclusion is that in spite of the exaggerated emphasis on RSE, it is necessary to study more profoundly the relationship government-business. In this paper we have focused on the proposal to include business in the political economy. It is still necessary to analytically study why certain businesses are more socially responsible...
This chapter discusses the impact that the rise of the emerging economies on development theory a... more This chapter discusses the impact that the rise of the emerging economies on development theory and research. It does so by discussing the evolution of development research and how it has fragmented and adapted to changing geo-political realities. It argues that emerging economies have exemplified a new path towards development understood as industrial growth and technological upgrading with the effect of restoring this post World War II development concept and strategies that had lost favor from the 1970s onwards. However, they pursue these in a new geopolitical context, in which emerging economies themselves increasingly influence international development institutions and subsequently also development research and theory.
Since colonial times the position of the social, political and economic elites in Latin America h... more Since colonial times the position of the social, political and economic elites in Latin America has been intimately connected to their control over natural resources. Consequently, struggles to protect the environment from over-exploitation and contamination have been related to marginalized groups’ struggles againstlocal, national and transnational elites. The recent rise of progressive, left-leaning governments – often supported by groups struggling for environmental justice – has challenged the established elites and raised expectations about new regimes for natural resource management. Based on case-studies in eight Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, El Salvador and Guatemala), this book investigates the extent to which there have been elite shifts, how new governments have related to old elites, and how that has impacted on environmental governance and the management of natural resources. It examines the rise of new cadres of technoc...
ABSTRACT Business Groups and Transnational Capitalism in Central America investigates Central Ame... more ABSTRACT Business Groups and Transnational Capitalism in Central America investigates Central America's political economy through the lens of its powerful diversified business groups. It provides unique insight into their strategies when confronted with a globalized economy, their impact on development, and how they shape the political and economic institutions governing local varieties of capitalism. This study is based on the collection of data on sixty-nine of the largest groups from the six countries of the isthmus – Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama – and combines qualitative and quantitative methods. It seeks to analyze historical trajectories of individual groups and their evolution in distinct national contexts as well as their contributions to innovation and exports. The analysis shows that the business groups have formed alliances with multinational companies (MNCs), but are not in the process of being absorbed by them. Rather they shift sector focus and exploit their networks in order to face competition from MNCs.
Global Governance, 2004
... issues, such as sup-port for health systems and personnel training, to underfunded public sys... more ... issues, such as sup-port for health systems and personnel training, to underfunded public sys-tems ... ignores years of cumulative experience that points to the need for an integrated health approach.16 Another and related critique is that private sector engagement may ...
El tema de las elites ha sido controversial en las ciencias sociales latinoamericanas. Se les ha ... more El tema de las elites ha sido controversial en las ciencias sociales
latinoamericanas. Se les ha estudiado indirectamente como terratenientes,
capitalistas, líderes empresariales o políticos y, también,
fueron abordadas directamente utilizando conceptos y teorías de
los estudios de la elite. Aunque existe una cantidad significativa de
literatura sobre el papel de las elites en las transformaciones democráticas
(ver, por ejemplo, Highley y Gunther, 1992), a menudo las
elites han sido consideradas como un obstáculo para la formación
de sociedades más democráticas, prósperas e igualitarias (ver, por
ejemplo, Paige, 1997; Cimoli y Rovira, 2008). Este también es el
caso de la literatura sobre gobernanza ambiental, en el cual los grupos
de elite a menudo son considerados como un obstáculo para el
desarrollo sostenible y para establecer un enfoque más equitativo
sobre el uso y aprovechamiento de los recursos naturales. Por lo
tanto, a pesar de que en América Latina haya existido un movimiento
de conservación elitista, desde hace mucho tiempo, las luchas
para proteger el medio ambiente de la sobreexplotación y la contaminación
estuvieron invariablemente relacionadas con las luchas a de grupos subalternos contra las elites locales, nacionales y transnacionales
(Carruthers, 2008; Martínez-Alier, 2002; y los capítulos 2
y 3 de este libro).
En la última década, han ocurrido en América Latina una serie
de cambios que podrían tener cierto impacto en la composición y
las actitudes de las elites. Estos cambios podrían tener consecuencias
para la gobernanza ambiental en el sentido amplio del concepto,
como se indica en el primer capítulo de este volumen. De las
49 elecciones presidenciales en el período 2003-2013, 22 fueron ganadas
por candidatos de centroizquierda y, a excepción de México
y Colombia, durante la mayor parte de este período, los gobiernos
de centroizquierda ascendieron al poder en todas las grandes economías
en América Latina (Bull, 2014). Muchos de estos gobiernos
representan grupos que habían sido marginados de la política y confrontado
a las elites, incluyendo los movimientos indígenas y socioambientales.
Con los cambios en la economía política global, entre
los que se incluyen el avance de China y varias economías emergentes,
América Latina presenció el ingreso de una serie de nuevos actores
económicos, incluyendo nuevas compañías transnacionales y
nuevos prestamistas. Por otra parte, en los sectores clave las nuevas
tecnologías cambiaron la estructura de la producción y, por tanto,
también la concentración de los recursos –y a su vez, posiblemente la composición de las elites.
A pesar de estos cambios, se disipó el optimismo inicial con respecto
a las implicancias para la gobernanza ambiental. En 2010, el
ecologista Eduardo Gudynas les preguntó retóricamente a los nuevos
gobiernos: ¿si son tan progresistas, por qué destruyen el medio
ambiente? (Gudynas, 2010). Subsecuentemente, fueron formuladas
numerosas y variadas preguntas acerca de por qué los gobiernos que
rechazaron públicamente la agricultura genéticamente modificada
luego la promovieron; por qué aceleraron la licitación de las concesiones
mineras a pesar de las protestas de sus propios electores; o por
qué se ampliaron la extracción y explotación petrolera en áreas vulnerables
a pesar de las promesas proteccionistas.
El objetivo de este capítulo es iluminar la dinámica de las elites,
para dar respuestas a algunas de las preguntas señaladas anteriormente.
Basado en material empírico de seis estudios del caso, este
capítulo examina los cambios de las elites , esbozando la forma en que
surgieron las nuevas elites, cómo las viejas elites continuaron influyendo
en la política y la economía y, cómo la relación entre las nuevas
y viejas elites ha afectado la gobernanza ambiental en la región.
A common conclusion of studies on Central America’s democracies and political economy is that the... more A common conclusion of studies on Central America’s democracies and political economy
is that the weakness of institutions and the strength of elites are a main reason for the region’s
problems. Recently, a set of studies have attempted to scrutinize these elites in detail,
focussing on their strategies and resources. The purpose of this article is to reflect upon what
these studies can tell us about the question: what is strong when institutions are weak? I
argue that in the Northern Triangle particularly the answer is elite networks and their command
over and competition for the control over four sets of resources: money, means of
force, information, and ideas and ideologies, including religion. A systematic study of such
networks and how they interact with formal institutions may give us a more realistic view of
the current state of Central American political economies. Keywords: Central America, institutions,
political economy, elites, networks
El Salvador is often viewed as the quintessence of a Latin American oligarchic state, in which a ... more El Salvador is often viewed as the quintessence of a Latin American oligarchic state, in which a small group of families controlled the agro-export economy and the state, in shifting alliances with the military. This model not only resulted in marginalization of peasant farmers and widespread rural poverty, but also the most severe deforestation in the hemisphere, as well as soil-degradation and water-pollution, particularly in the cotton and sugar producing zones. However, El Salvador has undergone a thorough economic shift since the 1980s towards being a largely service-based economy highly dependent on the remittances from Salvadoran guest-workers in the United States, but with a weak performance in terms of economic growth, poverty reduction and job generation. When the government backed by the left-wing party and former guerrilla, Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) took power they were faced with the triple challenge of restoring national growth and production, of ensuring a more equitable distribution and of overcoming the deep environmental crisis and severe impacts of climatic change that El Salvador suffered from. However, in order to implement the ambitious plans for the transformation of the economic model into a more sustainable one, the government depended on cooperation with the old economic elites for tax-income and investments. This case study focuses on the evolution of the relationship between the government and the economic elites and implications for environmental governance. It shows how the government's attempts to establish non-hierarchical, multi-stakeholder governance initiatives have been hampered by the extreme structural weakness of the state confronted with the economic elites, and by the deep politicization of the economic elites. Indeed, the elites have rejected regulation and governance mechanisms even where they would have invoked limited costs and could have signified new economic opportunities, due to the political antagonism between the economic elite and the government. The paper discusses the implications of this for theories of environmental governance.
This paper seeks to outline key concepts and hypotheses for the study of elites in environmental ... more This paper seeks to outline key concepts and hypotheses for the study of elites in environmental governance in Latin America. It starts with pointing to an alleged "black boxing" of elites in most studies of environmental governance in the region. It further discusses different definitions of elites and views on how elites change in the general literature, and proposes a resource based view on elites embedding them in the control of four different kinds of resources: economic, political, social and knowledge. This is followed by a discussion of the relationship between elites and non-elites and the importance of the dynamics between different elite groups. The paper ends with an outline of how to study elites in environmental governance in Latin America.
Latin America is currently characterised by the rise of a number of strong social movements and t... more Latin America is currently characterised by the rise of a number of strong social movements and the election of governments that have their support. This has given rise to hopes for the emergence of more inclusive political systems, and stable democracies. However, many of the new regimes either show limited ability to create significant change in policies or practices for ensuring social inclusion, or have produced new forms of fragmentation and social conflicts. What are the long-term prospects of democratic inclusion of the social movements? This article approaches this question through a comparison of three current social movements in Latin Americathe Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil, the coca growers (cocaleros) movement in Bolivia and the movement of the unemployed @iquetems) in Argentinawith the experience of the Norwegian labour movement in the early 20th century. It argues that the inclusion of social movements depends on their own internal structure and strategies as well as the state's institutional capacity and the global politic-economic context.