Energy transitions in the shadow of a dictator

Decarbonizing neoliberalism and lithium extraction in Chile

Bibliographic Data

ID15700397
AuthorsDonald V Kingsbury (0000-0002-6365-279X, University of Toronto, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume10
Issue2
Pages556-572
Publication date2022-05-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Anthropocene Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2053-0196 • E-ISSN: 2053-020X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/20530196221087790
OpenAlexW4280622528
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited24

The global economy’s neoliberal era began in 1973 with a military coup in Chile lead by General Augusto Pinochet. Though the country returned to civilian rule in 1990, the dictatorship continues to determine much of Chile’s political economy, especially in extractive sectors, a legacy that also carries consequences for decarbonization in the 21 st century. As the latest stage of globalization, contemporary energy transitions offer an opportunity to examine the kind of global and local extractivisms established in the context of the dictatorship in Chile – an order that also accelerated the environmental impacts of the Anthropocene. Just as the Anthropocene is less a geological age defined by human activity as much as the compounding consequences of a relatively small segment of humanity, so too is neoliberalism traceable to specific people, histories, and institutions. This article traces these elements as Chile rewrites Pinochet’s constitution to highlight hopes and challenges of energy transitions as political, social, and ecological processes

Anthropocene · Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Democracy · Development economics · Dictatorship · Economics · Environmental ethics · Geography · Globalization · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Shadow (psychology · Sociology · Law · Mining and Resource Management · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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