Latin Americanists have long debated the possibilities, limits, and contradictions of economies dependent on the extraction and export of natural resources. During the Cold War era, revolutionary leaders, such as Salvador Allende in Chile, nationalized foreign-owned companies but did not question their countries' dependency on commodities. Indeed, they envisioned the new nationalized mining and energy companies as the engine of economic and social development. In the last 30 years, globalization has intensified the exploitation of the earth, and a global commodity boom has created an insatiable thirst for natural resources. This new cycle of extractivism has been particularly violent, destroying the environment, displacing Indigenous people, and contributing to political corruption. However, when state regulations have been in place, commodity booms have financed social policies and redistributed benefits to the population.Why have twenty-first-century progressive governments repeatedly failed to turn away from extractivism? Authors such as Eduardo Gudynas and Maristella Svampa argued that these governments, including Pink Tide leaders, have not questioned the commodity consensus. Neoextractivist leaders may have increased state control of natural resources but have continued the historical exploitation of nature, peasants, and Indigenous communities. Edited by Steve Ellner, Latin American Extractivism is critical of the neoextractivist thesis. Ellner, a well-known expert in Venezuela's economic history, brought together an interdisciplinary group of scholars working on neoliberalism and natural resource economics to debate what they see as the shortcomings of the neoextractivist thesis. Ellner argues that Pink Tide governments, especially in Venezuela and Bolivia, have not embraced the commodity consensus but developed resource nationalism. Unlike classical extractivism, resource nationalists challenge the foreign ownership of natural resources, prioritize South-South relations, and invest or reinvest the revenues originating in the export of commodities in the country's development, especially social infrastructure. Despite these differences, Ellner recognizes, resource nationalism suffers shortcomings, including its impact on Indigenous communities and the natural environment.The book is a collection of 11 essays, divided into three sections. More than half the essays are revised versions of articles initially published in Latin American Perspectives in 2018 and 2019. In his introduction to the volume, Ellner draws a line between different models of extractivism by paying careful attention to policies and politics. The chapters demonstrate this thesis by looking at case studies from Latin America and contrasting Pink Tide and right-wing governments. The first three chapters place the debate globally. Kyla Sankey shows that global economic changes, a commodity boom, and growing Chinese influence have transformed Colombia into a mining country and a classic case of violent extractivism. In their essay about Bolivia, Alfredo Macías Vásquez and Jorge García-Arias demonstrate that global constraints and financialization limited the possibilities of Evo Morales to transform Bolivian society. Bolivia illustrates the enormous difficulties that progressive Latin American governments face in moving beyond extractivism and breaking from this historical dependence. Emma Miriam Yin-Hang To turns to the Chinese influence on Venezuela, showing how this relationship has provided Venezuela with needed markets and resources.The second part of the book focuses on Pink Tide governments. The chapters (five in total) address the cases of Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Ecuador, and Argentina. Together, they help readers understand why some groups and governments have supported large-scale projects and the immediate benefits that these ventures have brought. They also point out the economic and financial obstacles faced by Pink Tide governments to fully develop resource industries. The chapter about Indigenous resistance in Ecuador and Amalia Leguizamón's gender analysis of soybean plantations in Argentina are particularly fascinating. They have the merit of showing the long-term tensions and contradictions of the commodity boom. The last section of the book looks at the experiences of extractivism under conservative and right-wing governments. Anthony Bebbington, Benjamin Fash, and John Rogan contrast the mining policies in El Salvador and Honduras; Zaraí Toledo Orozco analyzes a relatively unknown topic, small mining ventures; and Castriela Esther Hernández Reyes provides a much-needed analysis of resistance from the perspective of Colombian Black women activists.In sum, the book adds to the growing debate about natural resource politics in Latin America. The authors successfully demonstrate that not all extractivist models are the same by looking at the connections between resource nationalism and social and economic policies. But these differences sound too academic and sometimes apologetic. To what extent the Pink Tide's social policies are undermined by the enormous environmental and human costs of large-scale mining, agricultural, and energy projects remains unanswered. While probably outside the scope and possibilities of the original project, a chapter on the history of commodities in Latin America would have contributed to seeing both the breaks and the continuities over time. The book is part of Rowman and Littlefield's series Latin American Perspectives in the Classroom. From a teaching perspective, the book does an excellent job summarizing and explaining the main debates (neoextractivism versus resource nationalism). It will be an excellent addition to courses in Latin American political economy.
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Open Access
Feb 1, 2024
Iaroslav Manin 