"Learning it the Hard Way": Social Safeguard Norms in Chinese-Led Dam Projects in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia

Chinese dam developers claim to construct at least every second dam worldwide. However, scholarly literature comprehensively investigating the social safeguard norms in these projects is rare. This paper analyses social... [ view full abstract ]

Chinese dam developers claim to construct at least every second dam worldwide. However, scholarly literature comprehensively investigating the social safeguard norms in these projects is rare. This paper analyses social safeguard norms in Chinese-led dam projects in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, hotspots of Chinese-led dam construction. Safeguard norms are defined as shared ideas, expectations and beliefs about what constitutes procedural and distributive social justice in a large dam project with regard to project-affected people. To analyse these norms, 47 semi-structured interviews have been carried out (with access to interviewees mostly gained via snowball sampling) which were triangulated with scholarly writings on the topic as well as news articles and reports. It is found that social safeguard norms adopted have significantly changed in the past 15 years. While Chinese dam developers claimed to adopt standards of the host countries upon the launch of China’s Going Out Policy in 2001, with occasional adoption of more demanding Chinese standards, they did not adopt international norms. In recent years,however, they increasingly take into account international norms. It is argued that the root cause for this change is social mobilization, with the suspension of the Myitsone Dam in 2011 as a particular game changer. Enhanced social safeguard legislation in host countries and China, stricter rules of Chinese funders and cooperation of Chinese dam developers with international players have also facilitated this change. The findings suggest that activists can thus be central contributors to inclusive sustainability for development.