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Dam Projects and Protest: The Exception of Alqueva (Portugal)

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Globalized Water

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Abstract

With rising global awareness of the need for sound governance of water resources, the issue of dams has resurfaced with fresh vitality, now associated with the idea of clean, environmentally friendly energy. Long criticized for their irreversible impact on landscapes and communities, big dams now appear to be enjoying fresh consideration, at least when their effects on the planet are compared with nuclear power stations and other potentially more dangerous and polluting methods of energy production. The case of the Alqueva Dam in southeast Portugal lies in a particularly interesting theoretical interval: it simultaneously is an heir to the civilizing traditions of state development through access to water, a forerunner of the application of measures of public consultation and participation of the mid-1990s, and one of the most modern constructions for the storage and management of water in the early twenty-first century. However, some 8 years after its inauguration, the economic and social benefits of this extremely costly superstructure are far from convincing.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Électricité de France S.A., the French national electricity company.

  2. 2.

    Personal communication, Tignes 2000.

  3. 3.

    Barragem de Alqueva, Livro Negro.

  4. 4.

    The region was a stronghold of the Communist Party.

  5. 5.

    Prosseguir Alqueva para Desenvolver o Alentejo e o País.

  6. 6.

    As defined by Sophie Allain (2001).

  7. 7.

    in Publico, May 30, 2004, “O vale das ilusões.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, “Laboratoire d’Ethnologie et Sociologie Comparative – LESC” (UMR 7186, CNRS/Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense – Paris X), Maison René-Ginouvès, 21 Allée de l’Université, Nanterre cedex, 92023, France

    Fabienne Wateau

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  1. Fabienne Wateau
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Correspondence to Fabienne Wateau .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. GDR 2524 CNRS Urban Water Research Network “rés-EAU-ville”, Paris, France

    Graciela Schneier-Madanes

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Wateau, F. (2014). Dam Projects and Protest: The Exception of Alqueva (Portugal). In: Schneier-Madanes, G. (eds) Globalized Water. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7323-3_12

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