Democratic Governance of the World-Economy’s Raw Materials: How Suriname Shaped Australia

• In Event: Environment, Infrastructure and Geopolitics

Abstract

Struggles for democratic governance of extractive industries are prominent across much of Asia-Oceania and Latin America. Kaup and Gellert (2017) argue that governments, like in Bolivia and Indonesia, effectively mobilise "resource nationalism" during periods of conflict between challenger and existing global hegemons. I extend their relational approach to examine the politics of bauxite (aluminum ore) mining in the wake of aluminum's transformation into the metal of modernity during WWII (Sheller 2014). I show that in Suriname, the then-dominant global bauxite exporter, growing resource nationalism created an opportunity for the US aluminum producer and miner Alcoa to experiment with methods to secure its social license. This resulted in an unusual commitment to vertically integrated production in this small South American country. Alcoa's experiment in Suriname came at a vital moment in global aluminum production. Crucially, Alcoa's post-war strategy in Suriname prefigured its approach in its next major international venture: Australia. In Australia, Alcoa became a significant player in the early bauxite-aluminum industry - and Australia soon overtook Suriname in the volume of global trade. I argue that by bringing its experience in Suriname to its next major foreign investment, Alcoa forged in Australia's aluminum industrial structure the legacy of Suriname's struggles for democratic governance of bauxite mining. My research shows how relations formed between sites of extraction, as they are incorporated into global commodity chains, are shaped by and structure local struggles for democratic governance.

Author

• Bronwyn Lee, Binghamton University