Resource partitioning and regional development strategies in the Ecuadorian Amazon

This paper argues that the process of establishing claims and control over resources, referred to as resource partitioning, structures frontier societies in ways which impede subsequent efforts at rural development. Conflicts over claims to resources create divisions among local elites which prevent the formation of coalitions to promote development. Struggles for control over the flow of resources out of a region cause regional development agencies to pursue transportation policies which retard development by isolating the region from all but one commercial center. A case study of resource partitioning and rural development efforts in the Ecuadorian Amazon illustrates the argument.