'We are not the Wild West': anti-fracking protests in Romania

The protests against recent proposals for exploring and extracting shale gas in Romania are analysed. Examining the specific demands formulated by protesters, we investigate the articulation of a counter-discourse on the social control of natural resources and on the ecological risks involved in the shale gas industry. At the same time, the protests indicate a destabilisation of the post-communist neoliberal consensus by opposing the privatization and deregulation of natural resources. Using a critical political ecology framework, we identify the formation of a specific 'technonatural' environment of shale gas, which includes economic interests, political decisions and ideological representations specific to the neoliberalization of natural resources.