Energía incluyente? Expectativas de participación en el Chile de hoy

Abstract

From the socio-political point of view, the distinction equality/inequality appears firmly related to the one of inclusion/exclusion. Thus, the inequalities embedded in socio-environmental problems may also be seen as problems of inclusion: inclusion in the space of decisions, inclusion in the space of those affected by those decisions, inclusion in the space of those receiving compensations for them. This connection is made manifest by the multiplication of movements aimed at making these inequalities visible and including the affected in the political debate. However, by being duplicated, the distinction is also made more complex: inclusion/exclusion and equality/inequality are two observation schemes orthogonal to each other, so that crossing them multiplies the possible results. From this perspective, based on developments of the Theory of Social Systems, and the French school of New Inequalities, the paper will look at the current trends towards participation within Chilean energy policy, and particularly to the Estándares de Participación (Standards of Participation) built into the governmental program Energía 2050. Specifically, it will offer a reflection on the expectations to equality and inclusion these programs try to respond to, and on the limits that these same expectations imply.