Conclusions

Abstract

This chapter synthesizes findings from Bolivia, Ghana, Peru, and Zambia. It concludes that political settlements influence the relationships between resource-dependent economies and patterns of social inclusion. However, neither authoritarian, dominant leader forms of politics, nor competitive democratic politics has fostered significant economic diversification or reduced levels of resource dependence. The extractive economy does, however, influence the dynamics of national political settlements. The rents that resource extraction makes possible, and the high cost of engaging in extractive industries, induce asymmetries and create incentives for political exclusion. Colonial and post-colonial histories of resource extraction give political valence to ideas that have helped mobilize actors who have challenged relations of power and institutional arrangements. The materiality of subsoil resources has direct implications for subnational forms of holding power that can influence resource access and control. Mineral and hydrocarbon economies bring both transnational and local political actors into the constitution of national political settlements.

Contesting the hydrocarbon frontiers: State depoliticizing practices and local responses in Peru

“…This assumption, however, remains to be investigated in greater detail. Moreover, it is still unclear whether resistance against planned projects can be upheld over a longer time period (Bebbington, Bury, & Gallagher, 2013) and if induced institutional changes translate into substantial outcomes (Peralta, Bebbington, Hollenstein, Nussbaum, & Ramírez, 2015).…”