Extraction for the Green Transition: An Eco-Marxist actor analysis of lithium governance in Bolivia

Abstract: Bolivia holds among the biggest reserves of lithium in the world. Lithium-ion batteries are essential components in electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines, and are therefore crucial for a global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Meanwhile, the extraction process of lithium can cause large environmental damage. Bolivia has previously failed to industrialize its lithium, but the country’s current government has expressed ambitions to resume plans to do so, following a state-controlled model. The purpose of this thesis is to attain a greater understanding of Bolivian lithium governance, seeking to identify the main actors involved and affected, and analyze potential power relations between them. This is done through an actor analysis and the application of an Eco-Marxist theoretical perspective based on works by John Bellamy Foster. The primary material used to identify the actors consists of four public media articles, a press statement by Bolivia’s president, and a government document. The study’s results show that the main actors are the Bolivian government of Luis Arce, the MAS party, the state-owned lithium company YLB, transnational corporations, the states of Germany, China and the United States, and local communities and organizations. The Bolivian government’s extractivist stance can be seen as imposed by economic and ecological hierarchies of the capitalist world system, and the relations between the government and transnational corporations, Germany, China, and the US show signs of an unequal core-periphery relation enabling ecological imperialism, due to the interests and positions of these actors within global capitalism. Further, the government’s extraction plans hint of a similar relation domestically towards local communities and organizations, who hold mixed views on the government but clearly oppose involvement of foreign actors in the lithium sector.