Lithium continues to grow in importance and urgency as an asset in the international political economy (IPE) regarded for its potential in 'green' energy transitions necessity for technological advances, and over half of global resources are estimated to exist in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile - the 'Lithium Triangle'. Nationally, the element is of great importance to these countries and has important implications on the development paradigms pursued by their states, which are argued to reflect varieties of (neo)extractivism. That Argentina and Chile are among the top three for proven reserves and Bolivia is not, despite it's relatively vast amount of resources and international demand, is testament to the importance of national governance and the role of state. (Neo)extractivism and the role awarded for lithium is also, however, necessarily impacted by the opportunities for and pressures on these states by powerful actors in the IPE.

To understand and explain the varieties of (neo)extractivisms across the Lithium Triangle, and thus the related opportunities and consequences, this paper develops the argument that it is necessary to consider inter- to sub-national dynamics that operate simultaneously and often across said scales. In doing so, it builds on the work of Svampa (2021) to advance an understanding of multiscalar political economy. Internationally, this research is also informed by critical and historical perspective of IPE as well as contemporary dependency theories to situate these three states relative to other actors in the wider IPE, with a particular focus on states. Trade agreements, exports, and extractive agreements pertaining to Lithium are examined to empirically support the arguments. Nationally and sub-nationally, power relations and institutional arrangements are examined to understand the ways in which domestic dynamics transform the role of lithium in (neo)extractivism, and how they resist or are primed for international influence.

International financial institutions (IFIs) have been critical to the outcomes of (neo)extractive state development paradigms in Latin America and the primacy of energy as a strategic focus for industrialization. Brazil and Ecuador, while distinct cases, exhibit patterns of commonality in this regard; they feature institutionalized developmental models since the "productivist" or "progressivist" turns that highlight hydrocarbon exploitation as a prominent means toward achieving development goals with varying forms of involvement from IFIs to do so. In particular, China has filled the gaps in for the Brazilian and Ecuadorian states where US-led IFIs are now more marginally and indirectly involved. Since the post-commodity boom era, the landscape of IFIs and their interests in Brazil and Ecuador’s energy sectors have shifted more. Still, hydrocarbon extractivism persists and focuses on more sustainable energy transitions occur concurrently with national plans for continuing and even increasing hydrocarbon extraction.

Leveraging perspectives of critical political economy, neo-extractivism, and dependency theories, this paper first explains the transformed landscape of relationships between key Western and Eastern IFIs and the states of Brazil and Ecuador as related to hydrocarbon-oriented (neo)extractivisms over time. Next, it develops the argument for how transformations in IFI-state relationships have also had consequences to the pursuit and form of (neo)extractivisms in both countries. To varying extents the Brazilian and Ecuadorian states have taken on a collaborative role in their relationships with IFIs, limiting the possibilities for fulfilling endogenous development, the socioeconomic promises of (neo)extractivism, and the commitment to shift from this development model. The differed positionalities of the two countries in the international political economy have resulted in unique arrangements. This argument is empirically formed through an examination of financial flows and conditions from IFIs as well as the relative role of hydrocarbons in the (neo)extractive development objectives of Brazil and Ecuador.

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is present in 80 countries across the global south, with an estimate of 40.5 million people working directly in this activity, and 150 million people dependent on this economic activity. This economic activity has garnered significant attention from the international development sector, both within academia and international policy spaces. The way in which ASM has been addressed by scholars in the academic literature, particularly the one from international development studies, has shifted over time, which in turn has influenced interventions that aim at governing this sector. Positioned as a Latin American scholar researching global development in Peruvian ASM, and with a particular focus on the newer body of literature coming from this region since 2018, in this literature review paper I synthesize insights from this region and bridge them with literature from other regions. I propose the classification of the contemporary literature on ASM into four distinct time periods: the Entrepreneurial Era (1970s-1990s), the Inclusionary Era (late 1990s - 2010s), the Formalization Era (2010s), and the Critical Era (2018-ongoing). In the second half of this paper, I delve into the Critical Era, where academic work explores the heterogeneity of this sector, contextualizes it within the global commodity chain, and critically evaluates the impacts of interventions that aimed to ‘fix’ this sector. With it, I propose new areas of research in ASM from a political ecology perspective that considers the intricate dynamics of ASM and the limits of the formalization policies.

This paper examines the ways that innovative finance initiatives that aim to use public money to crowd in private sources of financing facilitate urban dispossession. We argue that innovative finance creates intricate webs of public-private relationships that make it difficult for communities affected negatively by development projects to seek redress, particularly in weak states with unaccountable governments. We focus on a case study from Honduras, where corrupt politicians used innovative financial vehicles such as a new security tax and trust funds formed by multistakeholder partnerships to enable urban dispossession: the construction of urban parks and recreation areas under the auspices of 'A Plan for Everyone for a Better Life' program (2010-2022).