Governmental extractivism in Colombia: legislation, securitization and the local settings of mining control

TY - JOUR

T1 - Governmental extractivism in Colombia

T2 - legislation, securitization and the local settings of mining control

AU - Velez Torres, Irene

PY - 2014/1

Y1 - 2014/1

N2 - This paper analyzes the previous decade of governmental extractivism in Colombia, designed and imposed through two main power mechanisms: legislation and securitization. In examining the government's disposition and the territorialized settings of mining control, I identify two official architectures of rights: one supporting the private accumulation of capital through the foreign exploitation of mining resources and the other aiming to concede ethnic rights. While the two architectures compete in the juridical arena, a violent dispute has developed in the overlap between the geographies of mining concessions and the geographies of ethnic communities within the territorial settings of mining control. Legal and illegal military securitization has emerged as a complementary mechanism for territorial control. By looking at the case of La Toma in the Alto Cauca region, I conclude that the country's previous two presidencies have actively promoted differentiated access to and control over land-based resources, excluding Afrodescendant communities from accessing the environmental goods in their territories while favouring private actors.

AB - This paper analyzes the previous decade of governmental extractivism in Colombia, designed and imposed through two main power mechanisms: legislation and securitization. In examining the government's disposition and the territorialized settings of mining control, I identify two official architectures of rights: one supporting the private accumulation of capital through the foreign exploitation of mining resources and the other aiming to concede ethnic rights. While the two architectures compete in the juridical arena, a violent dispute has developed in the overlap between the geographies of mining concessions and the geographies of ethnic communities within the territorial settings of mining control. Legal and illegal military securitization has emerged as a complementary mechanism for territorial control. By looking at the case of La Toma in the Alto Cauca region, I conclude that the country's previous two presidencies have actively promoted differentiated access to and control over land-based resources, excluding Afrodescendant communities from accessing the environmental goods in their territories while favouring private actors.

U2 - 10.1016/j.polgeo.2013.11.008

DO - 10.1016/j.polgeo.2013.11.008

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0962-6298

VL - 38

SP - 68

EP - 78

JO - Political Geography

JF - Political Geography

ER -