World Bank-Directed Development? Negotiating Participation in the Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Project in Laos

TitleWorld Bank-Directed Development? Negotiating Participation in the Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Project in Laos
Annotated RecordNot Annotated
Year of Publication2009
AuthorsSingh
Secondary TitleDevelopment and Change
Volume40
Issue3
Pagination487-507
Key themesFraming Concepts in Water Governance, Hydropower, Safeguards
Abstract

The omnipotence of the World Bank on a global scale means that it is often regarded as the most influential partner in bringing about transformations in developing countries. This article contributes to ongoing discussions of this issue by examining some effects of the Banks participatory agenda in one of its flagship projects, the Nam Theun 2 (NT2) hydropower scheme in Laos. Critical accounts suggest that the Banks promotion of participation in donor-dependent countries like Laos is either a guise or an imposition. These propositions are considered in two settings where participation was debated around the time of the Banks loan appraisal for NT2: first, an international stakeholders workshop held in Vientiane; and second, some international attempts to identify the concerns of villagers living near the NT2 dam site. In workshops and villages, participation is a negotiated performance whereby competing representations emerge through the interaction between village, state and international actors. More generally, this article shows that a grounded view of development can attend to the practices that constrain the hegemonic tendencies of the World Bank, even while maintaining awareness of the potency of its policies and interventions.

URLhttps://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2009.01562.x
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Countries

Laos

Document Type

Journal Article

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