Science and Environment in Chile: The Politics of Expert Advice in a Neoliberal Democracy

摘要

Javiera Barandiarán’s Science and Environment in Chile presents an empirically richanalysis of conflicts related to environmental impact assessments (EIAs) in Chile.Investigating “what kinds of democratic states [are] produced alongside EIAs”(25), the book engages in a thorough investigation of four case studies in Chile,each of which explores the politics of neoliberal environmental policy making.The book adds to existing literatures about the politics of scientific expertise withan exploration of a country case that exemplifies the separate pulls of neoliberalismand democratic demands for accountable governance. The central insight ofthe book’s four case studies-dealing with salmon farming, a paper and pulpmill, a gold mine, and a dam project-is that environmental policy making inneoliberalism is defined by tensions that rarely increase and often pull away from“the kind of institutionalized, reflexive, and critical intellectual capacities neededfor long-term environmental protections” (30).