Dialectic narratives, hostile actors, and Earth’s resources in Saskatchewan, Canada

Abstract

This paper uses networks of action situations (NAS) together with actor network theory (ANT) to identify the decisions that were made in Saskatchewan regarding power production and explore what future choices are available in the context of climate change. A theoretical and methodological contribution to NAS literature is made with focus on interconnected human and non-human objects (carbon, hydro, and uranium) or ‘actants’ and the development of discourses supporting or opposing their development. Actants provide the nodes of focus, while discourses explain the development of actants and their links. Identification and explanation of the emergence and recession of actants on the Saskatchewan landscape are analyzed with diagnostics of telecoupled systems, polycentric governance, and flows of faction situations. Focus group and survey data are used to identify future pathways and imaginaries of power production and the actants of carbon, hydro and uranium. Actants of carbon (coal) and hydro are possibly kept alive with carbon capture and storage and import of hydro-electricity from the distant action situation in a neighboring province (if the necessary infrastructure is built). While actants of renewables are strongly emerging, uranium currently mined on the Saskatchewan landscape is receiving strong support by government due to the possibility of small modular reactors (SMRs). This expanded theoretical conception of NAS illustrates distant action situations impact on local narratives and decision-making and dynamics of polycentric governance that are neither top down nor collaborative.

Networks of action situations in social–ecological systems: current approaches and potential futures

“…They argue that merging the analysis of commoning and associated power with the analysis of NAS requires epistemic pluralism because power structures human relations in many ways. Hurlbert and Akpan (2022) integrate non-human objects' agency and discourses in NAS in their analysis of alternatives and futures of electricity production in Saskatchewan. They show how discourses in other provinces, respectively, the national government, shape discourses about local nonhuman actants.…”

“…Network analysis can identify ties between actors and ties with issues to suggest reinforcing or contradictory interdependencies of policy issues and respective ASs (Hedlund et al 2022). Actor-network theory can add to NAS, because it helps to explore relations of both human and non-human objects in mid-range explanations of institutional change in NAS (Hurlbert and Akpan 2022). Also, the commoning perspective is centred around unfolding relationships that can take non-human objects and their context into account in process analysis of socio-ecological issues (Partelow and Manlosa 2022).…”

“…Further research is frequently recommended to verify whether NAS-related findings apply in other spatial, topical and social contexts (see, e.g. Hurlbert and Akpan 2022). It is also important not to delimit boundaries of an NAS too strictly, as more distant ASs can significantly impact on a case (Ortiz-Riomalo et al 2022).…”