 From protest to power: how social movements shaped the rise and fall of lithium nationalism in BoliviaManuel Olivera Andrade and Craig A. Johnson Chapter 21 in Handbook of Resource Nationalism, 2026, pp 325-340 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: This chapter explores the roots of lithium nationalism in Bolivia, a country that is often considered a major site of capital investment for generating the lithium-based derivatives that are expected to fuel the coming energy transition. It starts from the premise that resource nationalism occurs in a context of political contestation over state-led vs. transnational control of access to commodity-bearing frontiers. Drawing upon social movement theory, the chapter contends that the rise and apparent fall of lithium nationalism in Bolivia can be understood as a form of political mobilization that fostered new political coalitions seeking to influence state policy during key moments of political and economic crisis. Ultimately, we argue, the ability of social actors to maintain a consensus on the viability and desirability of pursuing a nationalist agenda entailed resolving the contradiction of actively coveting foreign capital as a means of pursuing nationalist policy objectives. Keywords: Lithium Extraction; Resource Nationalism; Social Movements; Bolivia; Transnational Capital; Political Economy (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23362_21 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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