Energy transitions in the shadow of a dictator: Decarbonizing neoliberalism and lithium extraction in Chile

Abstract

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 21st 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.

Beyond “Geological Nature,” Fatalistic Determinism and Pop‐Anthropocene: Social, Cultural, and Political Aspects of the Anthropocene

“…Regardless of the diverse and competing suggestions and guidance regarding the future political models that can protect life on Earth, there is nonetheless a sense of the need to abandon the logic and practice of neoliberal capitalism. Each time, critical reflections lead to the conclusion that 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 (Kingsbury, 2023).…”

The forms of climate action

“…Finally, in recent years local climate action movements have put their attention in the extractivism of “clean” energy sources. Examples involve campaigns against biofuels and megadams in the Amazon and India (Huber et al., 2017; Schoering, 2021), and Lithium mining in the Southern Cone of South America (Kingsbury, 2022). Environmental justice groups have also mobilized against biomass energy facilities in the Central Valley of California over concerns of increased air pollution in an already environmentally compromised region.…”