1650 - The Political Economy of Extractivism and its Socio-Environmental Impact in the Andean-Amazonian Countries

20.07.2012 | 08:00 - 13:30

Coordenator 1: Raza, Werner (ÖFSE Austria , -, Austria / Österreich)
Coordenator 2: Schilling-Vacaflor, Almut (GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies; Research Fellow, Hamburg, Germany / Deutschland)

The extractivist policies in the Andean-Amazonian countries will be assessed from an interdisciplinary and a comparative perspective. The aim of the panels is to reflect upon the interrelations between political, economic, legal and socio-cultural dimensions with regard to the non-renewable resource management in the region. Thus, a great variety of methodological and theoretical approaches from diverse academic disciplines (economy, political science, sociology, anthropology, legal science) are welcome.

The exploitation of hydrocarbons and mining are booming businesses in the Andean-Amazonian countries. The economies of Venezuela , Peru , Bolivia , Colombia and Ecuador are strongly dependent on the export of natural resources and extractivist policies stand in the way of the construction of diverse and plural economies. A new economic and development model according to Bolivia ’s and Ecuador ’s constitutional principle of good life (buen vivir or vivir bien) seems to be distant. Initiatives like the Yasuni ITT in Ecuador to leave the oil under the soil might still be rather isolated and limited projects. Despite the similarities we can also find some differences: in Venezuela , Bolivia and Ecuador a greater share of the benefits from the resource extraction are used for ambitious social policies and the role of the state in these economies was strengthened. While some scholars conceive these changes as a progress towards the reduction of social inequality and the re-gaining of national sovereignty, others interpret them as populist and short-sighted measures for securing voter approval and as authoritarian intents to concentrate economic and political power on the executive branch.

First Part : The Political Economy of Extractivism in Latin America in the 21st Century

In the first part we want to discuss questions like: What are the similarities and differences between the economic policies of the Andean-Amazonian countries? Can we find initial stages of a post-neoliberal development in the countries with leftist governments? What are the impacts of the great resource dependence on the quality of democracy? What is the potential for changing, i.e. diversifying the economic and development models in a context of internationalized states and globalization?

Second Part : Human rights and environmental standards in contexts of resource extraction

In the second part we want to discuss questions like: What are the differences/similarities between the Andean-Amazonian states regarding their human rights and environmental records in resource management? How do the tensions and conflicts between economic interests on the one hand and environmental and human rights standards on the other hand proceed in the legal and the socio-political field? How do these struggles shape extractivist policies? What circumstances might contribute to getting closer to a “good-life regime” in the context of global and national economic interests?

Título Autores País Co-Autores
3845 - ¿Existirá la Amazonia Peruana al 2021? Creando Gobernanza Sostenible para las inversiones en la Amazonia Gamboa, Cesar L Peru / Peru
7694 - Prior Consultations in the Andes: A Step Towards the Protection of Human and Environmental Rights? Schilling-Vacaflor, Almut Germany / Deutschland
7696 - El proyecto estatal del litio en Bolivia ¿ expectativas, desafíos y dilemas Stroebele-Grego, Juliana Germany / Deutschland
8052 - ¿Post-Extractivism¿ and ¿Beyond growth¿: two sides of the same coin? Dietz, Kristina Austria / Österreich Brand, Ulrich (University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria / Österreich)
8191 - Hasta donde llega la transformación? Presupuesto nacional y recursos naturales en Bolivia. Radhuber, Isabella Austria / Österreich
8994 - How anti-extractivist activism is managed by Latin America's progressive regimes Hogenboom, Barbara Netherlands / Niederlande
9958 - Lithium Mining and Socio-Ecological Inequalities Goebel, Barbara Germany / Deutschland
10600 - Responsabilidade Social Corporativa e Direitos Humanos: discursos e realidades na Amazônia brasileira Mathis, Adriana Brazil / Brasilien Armin Mathis (Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil / Brasilien)

