The Imperial Extractivist Boomerang
The Spectre of (Un)just Transition in Spain
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17819308 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Aitor Jiménez González (0000-0001-6818-8968, University of the Basque Country, corresponding author), L Bedford (0000-0002-7714-9546, Australian Institute of Criminology) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | State Crime Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2046-6056 • E-ISSN: 2046-6064 |
| Publisher | Pluto Journals (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.13169/statecrime.14.2.0002 |
| OpenAlex | W7159666618 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
Taking a decolonial approach, this article examines how global economic centres are implementing a new wave of extractive policies in the name of the green and digital transition. Focusing on the San José lithium-mining project in Extremadura, Spain, it illustrates how colonial logics of dispossession, having been exported to the peripheries, are now returning to the core in a reshaped form. We conceptualize this dynamic as an “imperial extractivist boomerang”, revealing that the EU’s new pro-mining legislation is not only about securing access to critical minerals, but is also about altering legal, territorial, and political conditions to facilitate extraction. Based on semi-structured interviews and fieldwork, the article highlights the discrepancy between the EU’s proclaimed democratic and environmental values and the situation on the ground. Ultimately, it concludes that green extractivism in the Global North cannot be understood outside of a critical and decolonial framework
Colonialism · Democracy · Democratic system · Legislation · Politics · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Mining and Resource Management · Water Governance and Infrastructure
This System is Killing Us
Green Sacrifice Zones, or Why a Green New Deal Cannot Ignore the Cost Shifts of Just Transitions
Mining out of the crisis? The role of the state in the expansion of the lithium frontier in Extremadura, Spain
Towards solar extractivism? A political ecology understanding of the solar energy and agriculture boom in rural China
The Security–Sustainability Nexus
Neo-extractivism in Latin America
Normalising corporate counterinsurgency
The coloniality of green extractivism
The political ecologies of "green" extractivism(s)
Wind Struggles
Mining Capitalism
Fighting Invasive Infrastructures
Rights of nature, an ornamental legal framework
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |