Call for Papers

The world is transitioning into a new energy era. Decarbonization has already started on a global scale. The current multiple crises are driving a surge in demand for raw materials, particularly “green” resources indispensable to green technology. However, demand for fossil fuels continues to increase. China is leading the global energy transition in key sectors, creating a technology gap for the US and Europe. Multiple tensions converge during this transition, leading to potential conflicts. Generally, decarbonization strategies may sustain or intensify existing consumption patterns. Still, they can and will also create new demands for natural resources (such as lithium and copper) for the energy transition. The “European Green Deal” and initiatives like Europe’s “Global Gateway” are once again attracting attention. The US seeks to contain and expand its interests through its “Inflation Reduction Act”. China, in turn, has been keen on enhancing strategic relations with the region through its “Belt and Road Initiative”.

Within this geoeconomic and geopolitical reconfiguration, the Global South, and in particular Latin America and North Africa, is attracting international interest as a source of new, urgently needed raw materials —such as fossil fuels and new minerals —and as a destination for new technology, positioning the region as a potential geopolitical flashpoint. Countries in the Global South, particularly in Latin America and North Africa, face a dual challenge in this context. On the one hand, they must navigate a new geopolitical dynamic with the centers and growth poles of the global economy, which requires them to provide essential resources for the energy transition. On the other hand, since these resource flows are largely one-sided and do not include technology or knowledge transfers to the Global South, these countries have limited opportunities to benefit from the growth opportunities generated by the transition. As a consequence, societies in the Global South find themselves caught in a double-edged trap: domestically, they must balance a complex development process that promotes macroeconomic structural change with structural heterogeneity and enclave dynamics, while also prioritizing the well-being of the poor over poverty and marginality. Internationally, they face challenges from the unequal specialization in exporting raw materials and therefore need to diversify their export baskets. Both dimensions are further intensified by the ongoing global energy transition that fundamentally alters the global structure of demand. However, over the past decades, an extractivist development model has characterized these regions, with many economies specializing in the extraction and export of natural resources to industrial centers in Europe, North America, and East Asia.

North Africa has traditionally been a fossil fuel producer but is increasingly shifting toward the extraction and export of green raw materials and energy, such as solar energy, green hydrogen, and phosphates. Latin America holds nearly a third of the world’s reserves of copper, bauxite, silver, coal, and oil, as well as more than a third of all minerals considered strategically crucial for the new global sustainability strategies. Discussions about critical resources such as lithium, solar electricity, and green hydrogen are becoming important political drivers. Additionally, Latin America also produces a significant share of the world’s staple foods and has recently strengthened economic ties with China.

For these reasons, we expect the extractivist development model to deepen. Simultaneously, a new phase of raw material exploitation, called “green extractivism,” is emerging, involving the extraction and export of raw materials using advanced, environmentally friendly technology. It aims to create “green jobs” and to promote resource extraction in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals and a low-carbon future, which is considered compatible with all. How can countries in the Global South overcome these challenges and leverage opportunities arising from shifts in the international environment to advance their development efforts and develop exit strategies from extractivism? We are particularly interested in discussing the extent to which China’s development experience and its enormous economic and social successes can help address the challenges facing the Global South, as well as the current geopolitical and geoeconomic impacts. We request scholars to discuss:

• Visions for development: To what extent can China’s developmental experience and its significant economic and social achievements contribute to addressing the challenges encountered by the Global South?
• Geopolitical shifts: What key geopolitical dynamics are currently shaping the regions, and who are the potential winners and losers?
• State strategies: How are Latin America and North Africa adapting their economic, foreign, and development policies in response to these geopolitical challenges, and how do they align with China?
• Social and political actors: Which actors drive these transformations, and who might resist or block them?