From paper institutions to bureaucratic autonomy: institutional change as a resource curse remedy

Over the last three decades, drawn by international influence and local discontent, mineral-dependent Peru has progressed in the acquisition of environmental protection regulations and policies for its mining industry. However, for regulations and policy announcements to matter, in face of power asymmetries and economic dependence, there must be bureaucratic autonomy. The cases of Hualgayoc and Pasco, scenarios of long and distinct processes of environmental damage and contention regarding mining in the Peruvian Andes, show fairly limited progress in environmental protection. This study on institutional change begins at the 1990s domestic-neoliberalism-meets-global-environmentalism juncture. The triumphant policy ideology of liberal boosting of the economy structured newborn environmental functions of the state for its mining industry. We show that pressures from above —the greened international political economy— and below —grassroots activism and protest— are contextual conditions enabling formal institutional change: they compel a resource-dependent developing country to carry out institutional reform to protect the environment from extractive industries. However, accretion of formal rules does not bring on their own bureaucratic autonomy for environmental protection.