Slow justice and other unexpected consequences of litigation in environmental conflicts
Conde, Marta (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Walter, Mariana (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Wagner, Lucrecia (Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Science)
Navas Obando, Grettel (University of Chile)

Data:	2023
Resum:	Movements are increasingly taking companies to court for environmental and social harms. Yet little is known about the consequences this strategy has for movements and their struggles. Through a cross-country comparison of three environmental litigation cases in Argentina, Nicaragua, and Spain, we find that local groups encounter three interrelated consequences: i) 'slow justice', a strategy generally driven by companies to delay proceedings and demobilize movements; ii) courts reduce complex impacts to simplified, scientifically verifiable and legally punishable damages, thus invisibilizing certain harms, victims, narratives and demands; and iii) local groups lose control of the resistance process as judges and lawyers become key decision-makers. These dynamics interact with the specific features of environmental conflicts -uncertainty, slow violence and marginalized affected parties- to deepen power inequalities in litigation processes. Our findings are contextualized within the literatures on legal mobilization and the judicialization of politics. We conclude that social movements, when looking for a fair and just solution through the judicial system, encounter different but highly hierarchical power structures. And even if they win in the courts, companies can avoid complying with the judicial orders.
Ajuts:	European Commission 897072 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M
Nota:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Nota:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Publicat a:	Global Environmental Change, Vol. 83 (December 2023) , art. 102762, ISSN 1872-9495

DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102762

10 p, 608.9 KB

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