Extractivism and Citizenship

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the main claims of the heterogeneous concept of extractivism, pointing out its ambiguities and polysemic nature. Extractivism has been used to refer to different historical periods, has been assigned quite diverse scopes and used to draw varied conclusions. The first section maps these different meanings and their theoretical influences, then the chapter summarizes the empirical evidence that has spawned the recent widespread usage of the term and finally rejoins the issue of citizenship and the consequences of extractivism for governance. It concludes showing that a false consensus has been born without a common empirical and theoretical background.