Interface: a journal for and about social movements Article Volume 9 (2): 300 - 328 (Nov/Dec 2017) Borgias and Braun, Dams to democracy 300 From dams to democracy: framing processes and political opportunities in Chile’s Patagonia Without Dams movement Sophia L. Borgias and Yvonne A. Braun Abstract This article traces the development of Chile’s emblematic Patagonia Sin Represas (Patagonia Without Dams) movement, known for its nearly decade- long, and ultimately successful, resistance to the controversial HidroAysén dam project. We draw on political process theory and frame analysis to examine how the movement grew from a small community struggle in an isolated part of Patagonia into the country’s largest environmental social movement. We argue that movement actors achieved widespread support for Patagonia Without Dams by strategically reframing the issue in response to key political opportunities, shifting from a primarily environmental and anti- dam frame to a master frame of social justice and democracy. By framing the controversial hydroelectric project as an issue of historical and structural injustice within Chile’s neoliberal economic governance structures, movement actors were able to resonate with broader audiences and build a robust alliance structure. Ultimately, the master frame of democracy allowed for frame bridging with key allies and actors in the mass protests of 2011 and in contemporary movements for constitutional reform. Keywords: social movements, dams, Chile, framing, democracy, political opportunity Introduction On June 10, 2014, the Chilean Patagonia Without Dams movement celebrated an unprecedented victory in its nearly decade-long struggle against the multi- billion dollar HidroAysén dam project. A specially appointed presidential committee halted the project by revoking the highly controversial approval of its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The original approval of the EIA in May 2011 had sent hundreds of thousands of people into the streets in protest all across Chile, a scale of mobilization then unprecedented since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship. But it was a long and carefully orchestrated process that carried the movement to such heights and finally defeated the project. Resistance to the dam project started small, originating in the remote region of Aysén in Chilean Patagonia. Announced in 2005, the HidroAysén project proposed to dam the Baker and Pascua rivers and build a 2,000 kilometer long transmission line to carry energy north to Chile’s large cities and booming mining industry. This project threatened the local movement for an alternative