“Bulldozer politics”, state-making and (neo-)extractive industries in Tanzania’s gold mining sector

Abstract

Recent dynamics in Tanzania’s politics have severely impacted on its extractive sector. By engaging in an ‘economic war’ with the yet largest gold producer in the country, Acacia Mining, President John Magufuli’s government led resistance against the current setup of extraction in Tanzania. In the course of this ‘war’, the government did not only fight its proclaimed enemy, but released a new legislation with the aim to dissolve confidential contracts signed under World Bank influence in the 1990s and increase state participation in and control over the sector. While these dynamics are linked to issues of resource nationalism, this paper argues that the particular role of the state rather suggests a turn to neo-extractivism, a term borrowed from the Latin American debate, in Tanzania. By engaging in state-led resistance against the established way of industrial mining in the country, the Tanzanian government addresses popular demands and underpins its ambitions as a sovereign, developmental state.