ECO-DEM Talk: Nuancing The Paradox of Plenty: Extractivism in the Amazonian States through the Resource Boom and the Climate Agenda
In the March event of the ECO-DEM Talks series, Professor Kathy Hochstetler from LSE presented her current research on energy transitions in the Amazonian countries.
Terry Karl’s The Paradox of Plenty was a ground-breaking work for explaining why the extraction of oil and gas so rarely led to desired outcomes like democracy and development. A generation of research on the “resource curse” urged countries to diversify their economies away from extraction – although the resource boom of the 2000s questioned that need – with the rise of the climate action agenda adding new reasons to promote energy transition. This presentation is an early look at my new research project that aims to track both the initiatives and outcomes for energy transition in the eight Amazonian countries, since 2000. It suggests that the resource curse arguments should be nuanced. Rather than talking about democracy as a whole, I focus on the varied experiences in the region with populism, especially left populism.
Similarly, the level of industrial development is seen as an important differentiator among the countries in terms of their ability to engage with alternative green economy possibilities. Finally, the varying ideals and activism of civil society actors in the region are presented as critical for both the development initiatives attempted and their eventual outcomes.
