What to do when the mining company comes to town? Mapping actions of anti-extraction movements in Sweden, 2009–2019

Daniel Fjellborg,Anna Zachrisson,Karin Beland Lindahl

doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102514

Daniel Fjellborg, Anna Zachrisson + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102514

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Abstract

Research on the actions of anti-extraction movements has primarily comprised single-case studies in developing countries. Despite increasing mobilization and policy objectives to increase mineral extraction in the EU, we have little systematic knowledge of forms of resistance in a European setting. This paper exhaustively and comparatively maps anti-extraction movements in Sweden and investigates how movements' actions relate to their socio-political contexts. Sixteen place-specific movements are identified and studied using frame analysis and political process theory. The results suggest that anti-extraction movements occur across Sweden and that their socio-political contexts differ in access to indigenous rights institutions, project owner engagement, and support/opposition from host municipalities and national interest groups. The frame analysis indicates that movements share several goals, sometimes interpret similar contexts differently, and that differences in actions reflect differences in interpretations of contextual opportunities. Our results show that anti-extraction movements in Sweden involve diverse actors, including environmental interest groups, new networks mobilizing against extraction projects, indigenous Sami organizations, farmers' organizations, and landowners. Broad repertoires of actions, including civil disobedience, are used to influence the public, permitting processes, political actors at various scales, and project owners. Differences in socio-political contexts often align with movements’ interpretations of opportunities and relate with differences in action choices.

Highlights

Demand for minerals is expected to increase, not least due to the energy transition needed to meet climate targets
The first research question is: What anti-extraction movements existed in Sweden between 2009 and 2019? As shown in Fig. 2 and Table 2, mobilization predominantly happened in response to extraction projects in specific places (e.g. Kallak/Gallok or Dalsland), and alto gether 16 cases of such place-specific anti-extraction movements were identified
Some extraction-sceptical actors with a more general policy focus were found, for example, the national Bedrock Group and national mining networks within the Swedish Society for Nature Con servation (SSNC), and they are covered by the mapping to the extent that they participated in the place-specific movements

Summary

Introduction

Demand for minerals is expected to increase, not least due to the energy transition needed to meet climate targets. As the extraction industry develops and moves into new areas, resistance and anti-extraction movements follow (Kivinen et al, 2020). A recent comprehensive global review of mining resistance shows that the phe nomenon occurs worldwide, in South America (Conde and Le Billon, 2017) and the Global South (Conde, 2017). Mineral-related conflicts are increasingly reported from developed countries in North America (Auyero et al, 2019; Karidio and Talbot, 2020), Australia (Wawryk, 2014), and the Nordic countries (Beland Lindahl et al, 2018; Sairinen et al, 2017). A systematic overview of the occurrence of mineral-related anti-extraction movements and their actions in varying contexts is missing, but is needed to understand and handle mineral-related conflicts

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