In the midst of a complex era marked by extensive resource exploitation, growing social inequalities, and urgent environmental problems, a crucial dialogue is taking place concerning extractive practices (i.e. the large-scale extraction of natural resources from the earth), environmental justice and the necessary shift towards socially and environmentally sustainable economies. These conversations delve into the intricate interplay between economic interests, social disparities, and ecological well-being, recognising the complex interrelations between different social and ecological phenomena. In order to contribute to these important discussions, the JHU-UPF Public Policy Center delivered the fourteenth Policy Dialogues session, which was a book presentation of the new book: "Extractive Bargains: Natural Resources and the State-Society Nexus." The aim of this session was to present and analyze the conversations and theories surrounding the current environmental challenges that are presented in the book, and to learn about and debate state-led “extractive bargains” and their socio-environmental consequences.

The book explores various cases and theories of state-led "extractive bargains" from across the world. These bargains – or agreements – aim to establish social consensus on regulating extractive activities, such as mining, and mitigating the negative consequences of such activities. Encountered globally, they vary in form and effectiveness in terms of addressing environmental and social concerns. The critical examination of the book spans both Global North and South states, incorporating Indigenous perspectives on such agreements. Its focus includes mineral and fossil fuel extraction, especially the governance of extracting minerals for "green energy" and limiting fossil fuel use. Overall, the book assesses the potential of these bargains to promote long-term sustainability.

The speakers were Paul Bowles (Professor of Global and International Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada), one of the editors of the book, who presented the conceptual approach of the book and provided an overview of its contents, and Isabella M. Radhuber (a postdoctoral researcher in the Research Network Latin America at the University of Vienna, Austria, and member of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity (CeSCoS)), who presented her chapter "Extractive Bargains Reconciling Postcolonial Pluralism? Plural Economies in Bolivia and Ecuador", co-authored with Marie Jasser and Diego Andreucci.

Paul Bowles opened the session by providing some context on how he and his colleague, Nathan Andrews, came to work on the book. Bowles explained that he worked for several years on China’s political economy in Asia, and approximately 15 years ago, “as China knocked on the door of northern British Columbia, which is a resource-rich part of the province of benefit, the economy was changing and I began to see how the weight of China and Asia was reshaping the regional resource economy”. As a consequence, Bowles started studying particular sectors, such as forestry and mining, specifically to pipelines, and the opposition and resistance to this infrastructure for fossil fuel exports. He focused on the resistance and changes in extractive policies.

At the same time, as his colleague Nathan Andrews was studying similar topics, they reflected on the role of the state: “what is the state doing in all this? So, we've looked at sort of civil society, NGO resistance, indigenous resistance in Canada. We looked at corporations, but we didn't really have a very good understanding of what we felt the state was doing”, Bowles said. Therefore, this book is an attempt to develop a framework and unpack the different strategies taken by states to negotiate support for extractive and post-extractive activities, based on 16 case studies.

Bowles continued his presentation by explaining which categories were used in the book and how the authors and their case studies were approached, and offering some examples of cases, such as those in Latin America, which are expanded upon in the book.

In the second part of the session, Isabella M. Radhuber presented the book chapter on plural economies in Bolivia and Ecuador, in which she and her co-authors, Marie Jasser and Diego Andreucci, discuss what kind of extractive variants these countries offer in order to “reconcile postcolonial realism”. Radhuber explained that their analysis was based on 63 qualitative interviews, conducted in Bolivia and Ecuador between 2012 and 2017, with local producers, local and national leaders of indigenous organizations, as well as representatives of state institutions and state companies. Indigenous organizations advocated for unique proposals of constitutionally-recognized plural economies in Bolivia and Ecuador.

These proposals, continued Radhuber, involve the promotion of varied economic systems and outlooks, endorsing a range of economic structures. This includes supporting diverse reproductive activities, such as community endeavors and collectively organized indigenous economic pursuits, typically small in scale and oriented towards subsistence purposes. “The proposal has been brought forth by Indigenous organizations in alliance with other societal groups, and these plural economies should be part of these countries’ plurinational states, which recognize, and are simultaneously reshaped, through diverse Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups that partly self-identify as nations”, she stated.

As indigenous organizations are claiming to hold sovereign rights over their territories in order to secure their livelihoods within a national state territory, Radhuber explained that this implies “to renegotiate national sovereignty in light of this country's internal heterogeneity, its internal ethnic, political and epistemological heterogeneity.” Understanding these dynamics and complexities helps to understand the kinds of extractive bargains offered by the states of Bolivia and Ecuador.

For the authors, the objective is to demonstrate how indigenous organizations in Bolivia and Ecuador, within their plurinational states, engage in the renegotiation of plural economies. Their analysis delves into the tensions and contradictions that emerge during the practical implementation of plural economies. Since the 1990s, Indigenous groups have advocated for initiatives aimed at bolstering plural economies. The primary goal is to acknowledge and articulate the diverse livelihoods within these communities, with a special focus on supporting and recognizing their reproductive activities. “We see that indigenous agendas for plural economies have sought to address colonial legacies of social and social-environmental inequality”, Radhuber concluded.

The session ended with a round of Q&As with the audience, who posed questions about the theoretical framework for the conceptualization of the state, the role of China in the global economy, international trade regarding exploitation in the Global South, and the relation between important mining companies and states, among others.

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