Riccarda Flemmer | Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (original) (raw)
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Papers by Riccarda Flemmer
Routledge eBooks, May 16, 2024
Routledge eBooks, May 16, 2024
Society & natural resources, Apr 15, 2024
Routledge eBooks, May 16, 2024
International Studies Quarterly
Prior consultation (PC) has been an internationally enshrined norm for indigenous peoples’ rights... more Prior consultation (PC) has been an internationally enshrined norm for indigenous peoples’ rights since the 1980s. Indigenous peoples have called for PC for decades, but when governments finally begin implementation, a paradox results: previous advocates increasingly turn away from consultation processes. I argue that only with the perspective that norms are and should be contested “on the ground,” we are able to understand this contradiction. Therefore, the article presents a new conceptual and methodological interpretive framework for studying indigenous grassroots contestation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon (2013–2016), I hone in on three layers of contestation—explicit contestation, attitudes and perceptions, and political implications—and demonstrate that (1) non-contestation confirms state monologues and is an alarming sign for silenced voices, not for norm support; (2) contested consultations reproduce asymmetries within indigenous groups replicatin...
Routledge eBooks, Oct 14, 2022
Peru es el primer pais del mundo en adoptar una ley marco sobre el derecho a la consulta previa. ... more Peru es el primer pais del mundo en adoptar una ley marco sobre el derecho a la consulta previa. Recien elegido, el presidente Ollanta Humala celebro la nueva ley en septiembre de 2011 como un gran logro para los pueblos indigenas y enfatizo que ayudara a reducir la alta conflictividad socio-ambiental del pais. Hasta finales de 2014 se han concluido ocho procesos de consulta previa. Cinco de estos procesos han consultado sobre nuevos lotes de petroleo y gas en la Amazonia peruana, dos sobre areas naturales protegidas y uno sobre la nueva politica de salud intercultural. El gobierno peruano presenta en los medios de comunicacion estos procesos como grandes exitos, mientras que organizaciones indigenas y de la sociedad civil ven las primeras consultas de manera critica. A nivel nacional, el debate politico sobre como, cuando, para quien y sobre que se implementa el derecho a la consulta previa sigue siendo polemico. Este articulo ilumina las primeras experiencias en la implementacion ...
The Prior Consultation of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America, 2019
Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Schilling-Vacaflor, . A., & Flemmer, R. (2015). Rohsto... more Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Schilling-Vacaflor, . A., & Flemmer, R. (2015). Rohstoffabbau in Lateinamerika: fehlende Bürgerbeteiligung schürt Konflikte. (GIGA Focus Lateinamerika, 5). Hamburg: GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien, Institut für Lateinamerika-Studien. https://nbn-resolving.org/ urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-441992
International Journal on Minority and Group Rights
Based on rich empirical data from Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru – the three Latin American countrie... more Based on rich empirical data from Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru – the three Latin American countries where the implementation of prior consultation processes is most advanced – we present a typology of indigenous peoples’ agency surrounding prior consultation processes and the principle of free, prior and informed consent (fpic). The typology distinguishes between indigenous actors (1) mobilising for a strong legal interpretation of fpic, (2) mobilising for meaningful and influential fpic processes, (3) mobilising against prior consultation processes, and (4) blockading prior consultation processes for discussing broader grievances. We identify the most prominent indigenous strategies related to those four types, based on emblematic cases. Finally, we critically discuss the inherent shortcomings of the consultation approach as a model for indigenous participation in public decision-making and discuss the broader implications of our findings with regard to indigenous rights and natural...
World Development
Based on primary sources, this article analyzes 150 participatory events related to planned hydro... more Based on primary sources, this article analyzes 150 participatory events related to planned hydrocarbon projects in Peru (2007-2012). Therein, it sheds light on state depoliticizing practices and local populations' contestations thereof. We argue that participation in the extraction sector has not enabled effective participation and has instead been used to pave the way for expanding the extractive frontiers. We find that the state entity responsible for carrying out the events applied three main depoliticizing practices: (a) the organization of exclusionary participatory processes, (b) the provision of pro-extraction information, and (c) the identification of critical actors and discourses in order to formulate recommendations on how to weaken resistance against the planned activities. This study also reveals that local populations often contested the participatory events and identifies subnational patterns of local contestation. We find that higher degrees of contestation were fueled by previous negative experiences with extraction activities and the existence of local economic alternatives. To assess the histories and results of contestation over specific extractive activities over time, the study draws on monthly conflict reports produced by the Peruvian ombudsperson (2007-2016). We find that local contestation was quite influential, leading to increased social investment programs in the affected areas, the withdrawal of several extraction corporations, and Peru's adoption of the Law on Prior Consultation (2011). However, the long-term prospects of the transformations provoked by repoliticizing processes need to be evaluated in the years to come.
The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology
Third World Quarterly, 2015
Abstract Indigenous peoples’ right to prior consultation and to informed consent represents the b... more Abstract Indigenous peoples’ right to prior consultation and to informed consent represents the basis of the new global model shaping state–indigenous relations. Consultation processes promise to enable indigenous people to determine their own development and are especially promoted when extraction projects with significant socio-environmental impacts are planned on indigenous lands. In this article we draw on debates on participatory development in order to analyse the first state-led consultations in Bolivia’s and Peru’s hydrocarbon sectors (2007–14). The analysis shows that effective participation has been limited by (1) an absence of indigenous ownership of the processes; (2) indigenous groups’ difficulties defending or even articulating their own visions and demands; and (3) limited or very general outcomes. The study identifies real-life challenges, such as power asymmetries, a ‘communication hurdle’ and appropriate timing – as well as simplistic assumptions underlying the consultation approach – that account for the unfulfilled promises of this new model.
Prior consultation is an increasingly accepted instrument internationally for guaranteeing the ri... more Prior consultation is an increasingly accepted instrument internationally for guaranteeing the rights of indigenous peoples. Conceived of theoretically as a means for conflict resolution, in practice it lies at the heart of social conflicts all over Latin America. Using concepts from the “contentious politics” approach, we take a closer look at Peru – where indigenous mobilizations would lead to the only Latin American consultation law enacted to date. We also critically analyze the content and formulation of its regulating norm. We argue that this new legislation will not help to turn such consultations into a tool for conflict resolution as long as the normative framework itself is contested and the necessary basic conditions are not in place. The most important conditions that we identify for implementing effective prior consultation are impartial state institutions capable of justly balancing the diverse interests at stake, measures that reduce power asymmetries within consultat...
Journal of Latin American Studies, 2015
This article analyses the background to and the content of the Peruvian prior consultation law – ... more This article analyses the background to and the content of the Peruvian prior consultation law – the only one enacted in Latin America to date – and its regulating decree. In contrast to the widespread conception that prior consultation is a means for preventing and resolving conflict, it argues that this new legislation will not help to transform conflicts as long as the normative framework itself is contested and the preconditions for participatory governance are not in place. Establishing these preconditions would result in state institutions capable of justly balancing the diverse interests at stake; measures that reduce power asymmetries within consultations; and joint decision-making processes with binding agreements.
Routledge eBooks, May 16, 2024
Routledge eBooks, May 16, 2024
Society & natural resources, Apr 15, 2024
Routledge eBooks, May 16, 2024
International Studies Quarterly
Prior consultation (PC) has been an internationally enshrined norm for indigenous peoples’ rights... more Prior consultation (PC) has been an internationally enshrined norm for indigenous peoples’ rights since the 1980s. Indigenous peoples have called for PC for decades, but when governments finally begin implementation, a paradox results: previous advocates increasingly turn away from consultation processes. I argue that only with the perspective that norms are and should be contested “on the ground,” we are able to understand this contradiction. Therefore, the article presents a new conceptual and methodological interpretive framework for studying indigenous grassroots contestation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon (2013–2016), I hone in on three layers of contestation—explicit contestation, attitudes and perceptions, and political implications—and demonstrate that (1) non-contestation confirms state monologues and is an alarming sign for silenced voices, not for norm support; (2) contested consultations reproduce asymmetries within indigenous groups replicatin...
Routledge eBooks, Oct 14, 2022
Peru es el primer pais del mundo en adoptar una ley marco sobre el derecho a la consulta previa. ... more Peru es el primer pais del mundo en adoptar una ley marco sobre el derecho a la consulta previa. Recien elegido, el presidente Ollanta Humala celebro la nueva ley en septiembre de 2011 como un gran logro para los pueblos indigenas y enfatizo que ayudara a reducir la alta conflictividad socio-ambiental del pais. Hasta finales de 2014 se han concluido ocho procesos de consulta previa. Cinco de estos procesos han consultado sobre nuevos lotes de petroleo y gas en la Amazonia peruana, dos sobre areas naturales protegidas y uno sobre la nueva politica de salud intercultural. El gobierno peruano presenta en los medios de comunicacion estos procesos como grandes exitos, mientras que organizaciones indigenas y de la sociedad civil ven las primeras consultas de manera critica. A nivel nacional, el debate politico sobre como, cuando, para quien y sobre que se implementa el derecho a la consulta previa sigue siendo polemico. Este articulo ilumina las primeras experiencias en la implementacion ...
The Prior Consultation of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America, 2019
Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Schilling-Vacaflor, . A., & Flemmer, R. (2015). Rohsto... more Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Schilling-Vacaflor, . A., & Flemmer, R. (2015). Rohstoffabbau in Lateinamerika: fehlende Bürgerbeteiligung schürt Konflikte. (GIGA Focus Lateinamerika, 5). Hamburg: GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien, Institut für Lateinamerika-Studien. https://nbn-resolving.org/ urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-441992
International Journal on Minority and Group Rights
Based on rich empirical data from Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru – the three Latin American countrie... more Based on rich empirical data from Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru – the three Latin American countries where the implementation of prior consultation processes is most advanced – we present a typology of indigenous peoples’ agency surrounding prior consultation processes and the principle of free, prior and informed consent (fpic). The typology distinguishes between indigenous actors (1) mobilising for a strong legal interpretation of fpic, (2) mobilising for meaningful and influential fpic processes, (3) mobilising against prior consultation processes, and (4) blockading prior consultation processes for discussing broader grievances. We identify the most prominent indigenous strategies related to those four types, based on emblematic cases. Finally, we critically discuss the inherent shortcomings of the consultation approach as a model for indigenous participation in public decision-making and discuss the broader implications of our findings with regard to indigenous rights and natural...
World Development
Based on primary sources, this article analyzes 150 participatory events related to planned hydro... more Based on primary sources, this article analyzes 150 participatory events related to planned hydrocarbon projects in Peru (2007-2012). Therein, it sheds light on state depoliticizing practices and local populations' contestations thereof. We argue that participation in the extraction sector has not enabled effective participation and has instead been used to pave the way for expanding the extractive frontiers. We find that the state entity responsible for carrying out the events applied three main depoliticizing practices: (a) the organization of exclusionary participatory processes, (b) the provision of pro-extraction information, and (c) the identification of critical actors and discourses in order to formulate recommendations on how to weaken resistance against the planned activities. This study also reveals that local populations often contested the participatory events and identifies subnational patterns of local contestation. We find that higher degrees of contestation were fueled by previous negative experiences with extraction activities and the existence of local economic alternatives. To assess the histories and results of contestation over specific extractive activities over time, the study draws on monthly conflict reports produced by the Peruvian ombudsperson (2007-2016). We find that local contestation was quite influential, leading to increased social investment programs in the affected areas, the withdrawal of several extraction corporations, and Peru's adoption of the Law on Prior Consultation (2011). However, the long-term prospects of the transformations provoked by repoliticizing processes need to be evaluated in the years to come.
The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology
Third World Quarterly, 2015
Abstract Indigenous peoples’ right to prior consultation and to informed consent represents the b... more Abstract Indigenous peoples’ right to prior consultation and to informed consent represents the basis of the new global model shaping state–indigenous relations. Consultation processes promise to enable indigenous people to determine their own development and are especially promoted when extraction projects with significant socio-environmental impacts are planned on indigenous lands. In this article we draw on debates on participatory development in order to analyse the first state-led consultations in Bolivia’s and Peru’s hydrocarbon sectors (2007–14). The analysis shows that effective participation has been limited by (1) an absence of indigenous ownership of the processes; (2) indigenous groups’ difficulties defending or even articulating their own visions and demands; and (3) limited or very general outcomes. The study identifies real-life challenges, such as power asymmetries, a ‘communication hurdle’ and appropriate timing – as well as simplistic assumptions underlying the consultation approach – that account for the unfulfilled promises of this new model.
Prior consultation is an increasingly accepted instrument internationally for guaranteeing the ri... more Prior consultation is an increasingly accepted instrument internationally for guaranteeing the rights of indigenous peoples. Conceived of theoretically as a means for conflict resolution, in practice it lies at the heart of social conflicts all over Latin America. Using concepts from the “contentious politics” approach, we take a closer look at Peru – where indigenous mobilizations would lead to the only Latin American consultation law enacted to date. We also critically analyze the content and formulation of its regulating norm. We argue that this new legislation will not help to turn such consultations into a tool for conflict resolution as long as the normative framework itself is contested and the necessary basic conditions are not in place. The most important conditions that we identify for implementing effective prior consultation are impartial state institutions capable of justly balancing the diverse interests at stake, measures that reduce power asymmetries within consultat...
Journal of Latin American Studies, 2015
This article analyses the background to and the content of the Peruvian prior consultation law – ... more This article analyses the background to and the content of the Peruvian prior consultation law – the only one enacted in Latin America to date – and its regulating decree. In contrast to the widespread conception that prior consultation is a means for preventing and resolving conflict, it argues that this new legislation will not help to transform conflicts as long as the normative framework itself is contested and the preconditions for participatory governance are not in place. Establishing these preconditions would result in state institutions capable of justly balancing the diverse interests at stake; measures that reduce power asymmetries within consultations; and joint decision-making processes with binding agreements.