Resource Extractivism and Alternatives: Latin American Perspectives on Development

Resource Extractivism and Alternatives: Latin American Perspectives on Development 1 "Even when these nations try to break free from their colonial heritage, that is, their dependence on the export of primary products, through the implementation of development plans directed at diversifying their economies, they generally need foreign currency to achieve this. But they can only access foreign currency by exporting primary products, which again increases their dependence on exports. Paradoxically, by trying to exploit their comparative advantages, these countries that are exporters of natural assets, are frequently reassuming their colonial role as exporters of primary products-a role now redefined in terms of the neoliberal rationality of globalising capitalism. For them, neo-colonialism is the next step on from post-colonialism."