Colin Filer
Australian National University, Acton, Australia
Jennifer Gabriel
James Cook University, Cairns, Australia
Matthew G. Allen
University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji Islands
Keywords: Deep-sea mining, resource frontier, actor-network, Papua New Guinea
DOI: 10.5509/202194197
Papua New Guinea’s first deep-sea mining project, once touted as the first of its kind in the world, now appears to be “dead in the water.” The mining company behind it has been liquidated, the mining equipment has been rendered obsolete, and the host government has been made to look foolish for supporting the enterprise. This paper examines the application of two concepts—that of the “resource frontier” and that of the “actor-network”—to reach an understanding of the history of this apparent failure. By elaborating on the additional concept of a “network junction,” it seeks to show how arguments about the feasibility or fallibility of this particular project, and deep-sea mining proposals more broadly, have been related to arguments about a range of other issues in which scientific and technological uncertainties are associated with environmental and social impacts or environmental and political risks. Instead of seeking to explain the failure of this project by reference to the attributes of a specific type of maritime resource frontier, the paper shows how the articulation of different policy networks creates the appearance of a frontier in which human and non-human actors have combined to produce a variety of unpredictable and open-ended outcomes. From this point of view, the history of this project’s failure cannot simply be read as the outcome of a contest between two groups of human actors with clearly defined interests or ideologies, nor does it necessarily spell the end of the policy network in which this project has been embedded.
一个海洋资源边疆中纷乱的行动者-网络
关键词:深海采矿;资源边疆;行动者-网络;巴布亚新几内亚。
一度被吹捧为世界首创的巴布亚新几内亚的首个深海采矿项目目前看来已经胎死腹中。项目背后的矿业公司已经破产清算,采矿设备经闲置已经陈旧,主办的政府也因为支持该项目而显得十分愚蠢。本论文考察了如何在对这个显而易见的失败的历史的理解中应用两个概念–资源边疆以及行动者-网络。 通过对一个额外的概念—“网络连接点“—的阐述,本文试图展示出关于这个特定项目、以及更广泛的深海采矿方案的可行性或是易错性的论点 是跟一系列其它问题上的论点相联系的,这些问题上的科学和技术上的不确定性是与环境和社会影响或者环境和政治风险联系在一起的。本论文展示出不同的政策网络的意见表达创造出了一种边疆的外观, 其中人类和非人类的行动者相结合,制造出多种不可预测并且开放式的结局。从此视点出发,这个项目失败的历史就不能简单解读为两组有着清晰界定的利益或意识形态的人类行动者之间的抗争的结果,也不必然宣告嵌置这个项目的政策网络的终结。
Translated from English by Li Guo
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