Fernando CAMPOS-MEDINA , Universidad de Chile, Departamento de Sociología, Chile
Violeta RABI BLONDEL , Rumbos Colectivos , Chile
Social Sciences have challenged the prevailing extractivist model in Latin America, raising the need for transformation in times of crisis. The catastrophic drop in world demand for products such as nitrate would be proof of the model’s weakness and the need to stop depending on a limited group of natural resources. However, the evidence shows that the extractivist imperative does not seem to give way, and even more, it is a cross-cutting feature to different political orientations in the governments of the region, remaining unchanged in times of economic, social, and health crises. Our argument proposes that, in order to understand what we call “extractivist persistence” in Latin America, it is essential to highlight its prospective dimension. Using copper mining in Chile as a case study, we highlight i) the relative decoupling of production regarding the international price, ii) the decrease in the fiscal contribution compared to its expansion, and iii) the mining prospective nature, giving an account of the constant recreation of growth expectations. Thus, the current global climate crisis and the proposal of an energy transition for a decarbonized economy are the ideal scenarios to observe that the potential of mining extraction is not a contingent reality, but fundamentally, an orientation to the future where a large group of actors are articulated under a common goal.
Mots clés : Extractive industries,|Extractive persistence|Mining|Copper|Latin America
A104621FC