Javiera Barandiaran

PhD Student

Research Description

How do science and democracy shape each other? My research examines this question by tracing how knowledge about the environment is produced and used in Chile’s Environmental Impact Assessment process. Chile is an interesting country to study because it is an emerging democracy and a “neoliberal laboratory” - it has gone further than most in privatizing natural resources and applying neoliberal governance principles, like a small state and extensive use of competition. My research will contribute to understanding how democracy emerges between technocrats, experts and activists, in a context of rapid but unequal economic growth.