Damming the Mekong: Plans and paradigms for developing the river basin from 1951--1995

This dissertation examines the past forty years of thinking about development and the environment in the planning of large dams in Southeast Asia. It does so through an historical, in-depth analysis of dam plans and related environmental and social studies along the lower Mekong River basin. The dissertation studies whether there has been a paradigmatic shift of thinking over time and, if so, what factors would best account for such a change. The dam plans of the lower Mekong River basin are examined during three eras of development between 1951 and 1995. These plans are examined in the context of four major paradigms of development and the environment: frontier economics, environmental protection, resource management, and political ecology. Original planning documents of the Mekong River Committee form the basis for much of this dissertation's examination. Interviews with former and present Mekong River Committee officials and other individuals closely associated with dam plans provided further data. Additional research involved using published material and articles from the international press and independent research organizations. The author found that there was a shift regarding development and the environment from a frontier economics paradigm to an environmental protection paradigm in the context of the lower Mekong River basin. The paradigm shift was not as significant as might be expected however, and occurred near the end of the development eras under study in the lower Mekong River basin. The author further found there was discrepancy between the paradigm that project documents claimed was being followed and the paradigm actually represented in the documents. The author discovered that the shift in thinking that did occur was largely a result of two factors: new decision-makers, with fresh ideas and new modes of thinking, who drew up project documents; and new actors, notably regional and international NGOs, which put pressure on international financial institutions to shift the development and environment paradigm of the Mekong River Committee.