Activist Networks, Territory, and the Spatial Diffusion of Mining Conflicts

Abstract

This article examines how activist networks contribute to the spatial diffusion of mining conflicts. We conduct a spatial econometric analysis of 590 geolocated mining properties in five countries of Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Peru), using the univariate local joint count test and the spatial autoregressive probit method. Empirically, the analysis provides strong and generalizable evidence for the spatial diffusion of conflicts related to mining, namely that a social conflict in a given mine site can be considered an independent cause of a distinct social conflict in another proximate mine site that is additional to the localized factors considered in the quantitative and qualitative literature to date. Moreover, we show that the diffusion effect is most evident at a territorial level of analysis, which leads us to make the theoretical argument that the diffusion of collective action depends on the geospatial resonance of activist claims and mobilizing frames based on a common territorial experience among otherwise distant groups. The concept of geospatial resonance contributes to contemporary efforts to conceptually and empirically specify the limitations to a relational understanding of scale.

本文探讨了活动家网络如何促进采矿冲突的空间扩散。采用单变量局部联合计数检验和空间自回归probit方法, 对五个拉丁美洲国家(阿根廷、巴西、智利、墨西哥和秘鲁)的590个矿产进行了空间计量分析。分析为采矿冲突的空间扩散提供了有力的、可推广的经验证据。除了定量和定性研究文献采用的局部因素, 某个矿场社会冲突的起因也可能是邻近矿场另一起不同的社会冲突。扩散效应在领地层面的分析中最为显著。由此, 我们提出: 集体行动的扩散取决于活动家主张和动员体系的地理空间共鸣, 这种共鸣来自于各个遥远群体的共同领地经历。地理空间共鸣的概念, 有助于从概念和经验上确定关系式理解尺度的局限性。

Este artículo examina el modo como las redes de activistas contribuyen a la difusión espacial de los conflictos mineros. Realizamos un análisis econométrico espacial de 590 propiedades mineras geolocalizadas en cinco países de la América Latina (Argentina, Brasil, Chile, México y Perú), mediante el uso del test de recuento conjunto local univariado y el método probit autorregresivo espacial. Empíricamente, el análisis provee evidencia fuerte y generalizable para la difusión espacial de conflictos relacionados con la minería, a saber, que un conflicto social en el sitio de una determinada mina puede considerarse como la causa independiente de un conflicto social distinto en un sitio minero próximo, lo que se suma a los factores localizados tomados en cuenta en las literaturas cuantitativas y cualitativas hasta la actualidad. Más todavía, mostramos que el efecto de difusión se hace más evidente en un nivel territorial del análisis, lo cual nos lleva a formular el argumento teórico de que la difusión de la acción colectiva depende de la resonancia geoespacial de las reivindicaciones activistas y de los marcos movilizadores basados en una común experiencia territorial entre otros grupos por lo demás distantes. El concepto de resonancia geoespacial se suma a los esfuerzos contemporáneos para especificar conceptual y empíricamente las limitaciones de un entendimiento relacional de la escala.

关键词:

• 活动家网络
• 采掘业
• 拉丁美洲
• 社会冲突
• 空间自回归

Palabras clave:

• América Latina
• autorregresión espacial
• conflicto social
• industria extractiva
• redes activistas

Key Words:

• activist networks
• extractive industry
• Latin America
• social conflict
• spatial autoregression

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Donald J. Lacombe, for sharing his Matlab codes that we modified for use in this article; the anonymous reviewers; Melissa Marschke and Jean-François Rousseau, who provided valuable comments that improved this article; and Ana Paula López Minchan for drawing the maps.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s site at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2024.2306137

Notes

1 An illustrative list of severe or emblematic conflicts in Latin America includes the Esquel, Famatina, and Alumbrera projects in Argentina (Walter and Martinez-Alier 2010; Rodríguez Pardo 2011); Pascua Lama in Chile (Urkidi 2010; Haslam 2018; Haslam and Godfrid 2023); Pacific Rim in El Salvador (Spalding 2018); the Fenix and Marlin mines in Guatemala (Deonandan and Dougherty 2016); Cerro San Pedro in Mexico (Tetreault 2015); and the Rio Blanco/Majaz, Tambogrande, and Conga projects in Peru (de Echave 2010; Bebbington 2012). Concerns have recently emerged, however, that the focus on emblematic cases that characterizes the Latin American literature has failed to generate insights that are generalizable to less severe conflicts (Haslam 2021; Paredes 2022).

2 Bilateral distances were calculated using the “Nearstat” program (Jeanty 2010a); institutional distances were calculated using the “Spwmatrix” program (Jeanty, 2010b); arc distance band and k-nearest matrices using, respectively, “Distance Based Weight Matrix Code” and “KNN Weight Matrix Code” (Lacombe 2018); and queen connectivity matrices using GEODA (2020) software (version 1.18).

3 The statistical inference of the importance of local spatial autocorrelation for a binary variable is determined by the permutation approach (Cliff and Ord 1973). The calculation of spatial autocorrelation of mining conflicts was done using GEODA (2020) 1.18 (https://geodacenter.github.io/; Anselin 2024).

4 We used estimation programs written by LeSage (2021) in Matlab, and grouped in LeSage’s online Econometrix Toolbook (updated March 2010) at https://www.spatial-econometrics.com/, and SARP Matlab program.

Additional information

Funding

This research project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, Grant # 410-2009-0950.

Notes on contributors

Nasser Ary Tanimoune

NASSER ARY TANIMOUNE is an Associate Professor in the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include conflict in the mining sector in Latin America, economic policy, and financial development in West African countries.

Paul Alexander Haslam

PAUL ALEXANDER HASLAM is a Professor in the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include firm–community relations, corporate social responsibility, and resource nationalism in the Latin American mining sector.