Abstract

The article addresses the continuities and changes of extractivism in Chile over the past two decades. Based on the contributions of Political Ecology we propose an analysis that articulates extraction trends of the main areas of extractivism (mining, forestry, fruit and salmon aquaculture), readjustments in extractive companies’ strategies and their partnerships with governments to carry out investment projects, and the trajectory of territorial conflicts related with extractivism. The methodology is a documentary research with a qualitative approach that uses secondary information sources. The main results express that Chile’s extractive items are heterogeneous and show counter-trends with the dynamics of other Latin American countries in terms of the rate of production and acquisition of extractive income. Such situation has been possible due to the impulse of a legislative de-regulation that has allowed conditions for the accumulation of profits during the commodity boom. Another important component of the trajectory of extractivism is its adaptation to the sociopolitical dynamics since, in the face of the increase in environmental conflicts, the construction of legitimacy for extractive projects becomes an increasingly relevant factor in the implementation strategy of these initiatives.