Development, Participation and the Asymmetric State : Big Projects and Local Communities in the Brazilian Amazon

Since 2003, when the Workers’ Party took office in Brazil, the federal government has brought big infrastructure projects back to the political agenda, including in the environmentally and socially fragile Amazon region. Unlike the military regime that promoted such projects decades before, the current administration has promoted a discourse of participatory democracy. This paper explores decision-making processes around two large projects in the Amazon region, the paving of the BR163 road and the Belo Monte dam, to examine whether the result has been a more inclusive approach to development projects. Exploring the literature on state capacity helps us identify three kinds of inequalities that interfere with efforts to promote inclusive development: a) between social groups, b) within the central state and c) between territorial center and periphery. We argue that overlaps among these three asymmetries result in uneven state capacity when it comes to implementing projects in the Amazon. This framework helps explain why the government has moved much faster in the construction of actual infrastructure than in the implementation of participatory social and environmental programs that would benefit local communities