University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 3-1-2014 Foreign Investment in African Resources: The Ecological Aspect to Imperialism and Unequal Exchange Mariko Frame University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the International Relations Commons Recommended Citation Frame, Mariko, "Foreign Investment in African Resources: The Ecological Aspect to Imperialism and Unequal Exchange" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 207. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/207 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. Foreign Investment in African Resources: The Ecological Aspect to Imperialism and Unequal Exchange __________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Mariko Frame March 2014 Advisor: Dr. Haider Khan ©Copyright by Mariko Frame 2013 All Rights Reserved Author: Mariko L. Frame Title: Foreign Investment in African Resources: The Ecological Aspect to Imperialism and Unequal Exchange Advisor: Dr. Haider Khan Degree Date: March 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines the issue of foreign investment in African resources from the theoretical perspective of ecological imperialism and ecologically unequal exchange theory (EUE). Pulling from Marxist ecology, critical political ecology, and an environmental reading of Polanyi, this dissertation seeks to theoretically deepen and clarify the concept of ‘ecological imperialism.’ It posits that the wave of neoliberal policies that swept through the developing world in the 1980s can be interpreted as a historically distinct moment of ecological imperialism, a ‘counter-countermovement’ to the era of economic nationalism that sought to bring developing world resources under state control. Focusing on Africa and a case-study on Tanzania, it examines the extent to which foreign investment regimes since Africa’s colonial era reproduce a neocolonial situation whereby African political economic structures are subjugated for the ‘metabolic’ needs of core economies, in a manner amenable to the ever expanding needs of capital accumulation. It also addresses the relation of ecological imperialism to one of the most currently important theories concerning global environmental inequalities, ecologically unequal exchange theory (EUE). Building on world-systems theory/dependency theory and integrating ecological economics, EUE theory holds that the global economy is characterized by unequal, asymmetrical transfers of ecosystem goods and services from developing to developed economies in a manner that ii systematically reproduces global environmental inequalities through the mechanism of international trade and foreign investment. This topic is central to issues of environmental justice and inequality, particularly in regards to North-South relations. In order to contribute to the ongoing empirical research agenda of EUE, the dissertation engages in a standardized empirical model known as an economy-wide material flows account (EW-MFA) for Tanzania over the years 1970-2010. EW-MFAs trace resource flows driven by economic activities and have been used to operationalize the concept of EUE. The dissertation finds that though MFAs have been widely used in EUE literature, they insufficiently capture many forms of environmental degradation that could be categorized as ecologically unequal exchange. This is particularly true for countries like Tanzania whose main exports are high-value, low-weight preciousities, as MFAs measure resource flows in physical weight. In sum, the dissertation argues for a comprehensive, nuanced, and non-reductionist approach to the issue of ecologically unequal exchange, and more broadly, to issues of ecological exploitation and environmental justice, one that examines unequal resource flows but also other potential forms of exploitation that can occur in the political economic and social dimension. iii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Economic integration, technology and the environment: the literature and central debates .....................................................................................................................4 The critical perspectives: issues of sustainability and environmental distribution .8 Global environmental distributional issues and ecologically unequal exchange ..12 The dynamics of accumulation, underdevelopment and ecologically unequal exchange ................................................................................................................17 Empirical research and ecologically unequal exchange ........................................24 Towards a theory of ecological imperialism .........................................................33 Ecological imperialism and its relation to ecologically unequal exchange ...........40 The chapters and methodology ..............................................................................42 Chapter 2: Ecological Marxism, Ecological Imperialism, and a Critical ........................ 45 Introduction ............................................................................................................45 The capital/nature dialectic: contradictions and tensions .....................................47 Capital, ecology and crisis .....................................................................................51 Contradiction, crisis, and the expansionary tendencies of capital accumulation...55 The neoliberalization of nature ..............................................................................62 Nature as a politicized sphere ................................................................................63 Neoliberalism as a counter-countermovement ......................................................65 Neoliberalism and accumulation by dispossession: restoring the ecological conditions of accumulation ....................................................................................69 Accumulation by dispossession in the neoliberal era, policies and effects ...........72 Conclusion .............................................................................................................76 Chapter 3: From Post-Independence Economic Nationalism to the 21st Century Scramble for Africa: a Critical Political Ecological Perspective ..................................................... 78 The Third World countermovement: The demands for a New International Economic Order and resource sovereignty ............................................................80 The neoliberal ‘counter-counter’ movement and the collapse of economic nationalism .............................................................................................................91 Continuing primitive accumulation: neoliberal policies and reasserting the power of foreign capital over peripheral resources ..........................................................96 Multilateral and Bilateral Investment Treaties ....................................... 100 Domestic reforms: An example of the mining sector ............................ 105 The ‘new scramble for Africa:’ the 21st century global demand for Africa’s resources ..............................................................................................................115 Overview: African trade flows in physical terms and FDI inflows ....... 116 African ecologies in the global ecological context ..............................................125 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................131 Chapter 4 Tanzania: Foreign Investment in Mining and Land ....................................... 133 iv Introduction: Tanzania in the global ecology .....................................................133 Tanzanian’s integration into the world-system: the political ecology of land and mining in the colonial era ....................................................................................137 Economic nationalist policies and Tanzanian resources .....................................141 The era of structural adjustments: neoliberalism and foreign investment in land and mining ...........................................................................................................146 Discussion and Conclusion: The Politics of Ecological Imperialism ..................188 Chapter 5: The Sociometabolic Profile of Tanzania and the Issue of Ecologically Unequal Exchange .......................................................................................................... 200 Societal metabolism .............................................................................................201 Operationalizing societal metabolism: material flow accounting and analysis ..204 The societal metabolic structure of Africa: an overview .....................................212 Tanzania: socio-metabolic profile and the issue of ecologically unequal exchange .............................................................................................................................218