Mining and Violence in Latin America: The State’s Coercive Responses to Anti-Mining Resistance
Publisher: World Development
Author(s): Moises Arce and Camilo Nieto-Matiz
Date: 2024
Topics: Conflict Causes, Extractive Resources, Governance
The expansion of mining and conflict violence are closely related phenomena, but there is widespread variation in the coercive responses state actors embrace to subdue resistance to mining. To explain this variation, the authors emphasize the interplay of motives (incentives) and opportunities (enabling conditions) available to state actors. Contrasting previous approaches, the authors provide a cross national analysis on the determinants of coercive responses for all Latin American countries. The analysis also considers various forms of violent and non-violent coercive responses by the state. The results support a motive-based explanation: state actors adopt coercive responses when the mobilizing capacity of communities as shown by indigenous involvement is the strongest, and when the economic potential of mining properties as indicated by their lootability is the highest. These findings have implications for the expansion of extractive activities beyond mining.