Discourse Coalitions, Extractivist Politics, and the Northern Gateway Conflict
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Gateway to Crisis: Discourse Coalitions, Extractivist Politics, and the Northern Gateway Conflict by Robert Neubauer Bachelor of Arts, University of British Columbia, 2009 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Communication Faculty of Communication, Arts, and Technology © Robert Neubauer SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2017 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Approval Name: Neubauer, Robert Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title: Gateway to Crisis: Discourse Coalitions, Extractivist Politics, and the Northern Gateway Conflict Examining Committee: Chair: Robert Hackett Professor Shane Gunster Senior Supervisor Associate Professor Rick Gruneau Supervisor Professor Yuezhi Zhao Supervisor Professor Geoffrey Mann Internal Examiner Professor Department of Geography William Carroll External Examiner Professor Department of Sociology University of Victoria Date Defended/Approved: May 24, 2017 ii Abstract This dissertation explores the political and social conflict over the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project designed to diversify Canadian bitumen exports by linking the Alberta tar sands to international markets via British Columbia’s North Coast. It examines this conflict in the context of long-term processes of capitalist growth, Neoliberal Extractivist development, settler colonial expansion, and transnational economic integration. It explains how both the project itself and the political response to it emerged from and helped constitute a series of interrelated national and global economic, political, and ecological crises. In doing so, it identifies extractivist development in Canada as an extension of the broader Neoliberal class project. The analysis combines Gramscian theory, political economy and ecology, field theory, ideology critique, and power structure research to examine how various state, civil society, and industry actors coalesced into pro- and anti-Gateway discourse coalitions loosely aligned in service of common political goals. It explores how these coalitions themselves were integrated into and/or emerged from broader coalitions oriented around Neoliberal extractivism, ecoskepticism and transnational ‘market fundamentalist’ epistemic communities on the one hand and environmental, decolonial and left-wing politics on the other. The project examines the capacity of discourse coalitions to coordinate inter-field political projects by analysing 17 prominent civil society, First Nations, state and industry organizations supporting or opposing Gateway’s approval in the Canadian press between 2011 and 2014. To do so, it conducts an in depth discourse and frame analysis of communications materials produced by these actors as well as stories from four Canadian daily newspapers. It explores the ways actors from both coalitions generated and circulated opposing narratives combining elements of populism, nationalism, regionalism, environmentalism, and decolonialism to develop alternative concepts of interest and subjectivity which themselves facilitated differing interpretations of the distribution of ecological and economic risk and benefit. It supplements this discourse analysis with a social network analysis of the 17 organizations’ directorate boards, executives, and key staff to explore how the interpersonal and institutional networks of discourse coalitions allowed for the coordination of political projects and movements across social fields. iii Keywords: Environmental Politics; Political Communications; Ideology; Social Network Analysis; Discourse Analysis; Oil and Gas; Political Economy iv Dedication To Anne and Paul. For whom I’ve done everything. v Acknowledgements Various people have supported me, my intellectual growth, and the development of this project through the years. Most notably, I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Shane Gunster for his insightful, in depth, and always productive comments on my early drafts, as well as for being an all-around excellent academic and professional mentor. Because of him, my analysis in this project is vastly different now than when I started, and that is very much for the better. I would also like to thank my committee member Professor Yhuezhi Zhao for championing my transfer into the PhD program, broadening my political economic horizons, and introducing me to the work of William Robinson. Thanks also to my committee member, Professor Rick Gruneau, who offered me my first publishing opportunity and introduced me to a vast new world of ideas – many of which are explored in this dissertation. I don’t think there is a single book he ever lent me that I didn’t hunt down and buy afterwards, even the out-of-print deep cuts. I would also like to acknowledge my defence chair Professor Bob Hackett, whose graduate seminar introduced me to field theory. Various colleagues and associates have had a significant impact on the intellectual, methodological and political developments which informed this project, especially my comrade Kyle Thompson. May the Infinity Spiral carry us ever onward to Superland. Thanks also to Kt Raso, who provided me with numerous sources that informed this project. Her intellect, support, and basic human decency forever inspire me. Also, thanks to Amanda Oldring, Stephan Struve, Wayne Hope, Peter Thompson, Mathew Greaves, Itrath Syed, Graham Mackenzie, Anis Rahman, Maggie Macaulay, Tristan Markle, Allen Larocque, Eric Jacobson, and Shivaun Corry. And Blaze Sarkisian. Thanks also to my family for support, encouragement, and inspiration, especially (but not exclusively) Paul Ross, Robert, Joan, Guy. And of course, Gabrielle, who taught me that Jesus was a socialist. Finally, very special thanks to Helena Krobath, whose encouragement, patience and support were unwavering, and who made several key suggestions that improved this work immensely. vi Table of Contents Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iii Dedication ....................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ vi Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................. xi List of Figures................................................................................................................ xii List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................ xv Chapter 1. Introduction to the Northern Gateway Crisis ......................................... 1 1.1. The Specter of Crisis Again ................................................................................... 7 1.2. Gramsci, Hegemony, and Crisis Theory .............................................................. 12 1.3. Natural Causes: Political Ecology and Crisis ....................................................... 14 1.4. Research Program and Chapter Organization ..................................................... 15 Chapter 2. Carbon Copies: Oil and the Capitalist World Systems ........................ 19 2.1. World Liquidity: Oil and Growth in the Keynesian-Fordist System ........................ 20 2.2. Building Blocs: Crisis, Civil Society, and Neoliberalism ........................................ 23 2.2.1. Growing Organic: EPII Groups, Discourse Coalitions and Neoliberal Ideology ........................................................................................................24 2.2.2. Brave New World: Rise of the Global Neoliberal System ............................. 26 2.3. Green Tide: Environmentalism and the Neoliberal Project ................................... 29 2.3.1. Skeptic Tanks: Policy Institutes, Conservative Populism, and Subjectivity ... 32 2.4. Canadian Bitumen, Chinese Demand, and the Crisis of 2008.............................. 36 Chapter 3. Gateway to Crisis ................................................................................... 42 3.1. The Neoliberalisation of Alberta’s Tar Sands ....................................................... 42 3.2. Environmental Resistance to the Canadian Tar Sands ........................................ 45 3.2.1. Unhealthy Skepticism: Neoliberal Think Tanks and the Elite Response to Environmentalism ...................................................................................................... 47 3.3. First Nations, Decolonization, and Accumulation by Dispossession ..................... 49 3.4. Morbid Symptoms: The Harper Conservatives and the Canadian Petrobloc ........ 52 3.4.1. Crisis Management? Canadian Extractivism, Elite Hegemony and Neoliberalism ............................................................................................................. 56 3.5. Running out of Gas: Neoliberal Extractivism Becomes a Victim of its Own Success ...............................................................................................................................64