Mapping terrains of struggle: State space and the spatiality of oil mobilisation in Ecuador and Peru

Abstract

The analysis presented in this article departs from observing the differences in the spatiality of mobilising strategies regarding the most contentious and politicised oil projects in neighbouring Ecuador and Peru: Yasuní-ITT and Block 192. In the case of Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT, mobilisation has been national, removed from the oil project’s spatial embeddedness and directed at oil extraction in itself. In the case of Peru’s Block 192, mobilisation has been local, linked to territory and directed at the terms and conditions of extraction. The deconstruction and reassessment of context emerged through an exploratory and process-based cross-border comparison. The article analyses secondary literature, a large sample of news items regarding the two oilfields, and research interviews with key actors in Ecuador and Peru. It argues that approaches from critical state theory can be applied to explain the spatiality of mobilising strategies. Historical state spatial strategies to ensure accumulation through extractivism, mobilisation over the consequences of such strategies, and the degree to which they continue to enjoy a hegemonic position, are found to be important dimensions shaping the spatiality of mobilisation.