Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
towards a strengthening of the state. The three major adjustments to the 1997 law that
lead to this shift are the decision of the Constitutional Court 0032/2006, the Supreme
Decree No 29117, 2007 and the Constitution of 2009.
7.4.1 Background
The Bolivian economy has long been based on the exports of natural resources
with various cycles in which different resources - e.g. silver, tin, natural gas, rub-
ber, etc. - have played an important role. This dependence characterises Bolivia as
a peripheral state in the capitalist world-system (Wallerstein 2007: 28f.), which is
distinguished by highly unequal trade relations. Most added-value emerges in the post-
extraction phases of refinement, commercialisation and further use, in which most
resource-rich countries do not participate (Almaráz 2010: 57). Hence, countries like
Bolivia do not succeed in their aspirations of mineral-led development (Allgäuer et al.
2005: 5).
Nationalisation of natural resources and its extraction is not something new to
Bolivia. In 1937, Standard Oil was expropriated and the state-owned Yacimientos
Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) was created in order to manage the hydrocar-
bon sector. These measures mark the beginning of the nationalisation process, which
culminated in the nationalisation of the tin sector and the creation of the state-owned
mining company, Corporación Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL) in 1952 (Tahbub 2008:
21f.). During the sixties, the pendulum swung towards a short period of liberalisation,
marked by an influx of private foreign investment in the mining and hydrocarbon sec-
tor. However, the liberalisation process was again interrupted by the nationalisation
of Gulf Oil in October 1969 (Wanderley et al. 2010).
The last privatisation period in the 1980s and 1990s was vital for the emergence
of the new protest movements that surfaced in 2000 and the subsequent nationalisa-
tion processes. This privatisation period in Bolivia also affected the mining sector, and
began prior to the so-called 'stabilisation programs' enforced by international mecha-
nisms during the dictatorship of Hugo Banzer Suárez (1971-1978) and the respective
changes in the hydrocarbon laws. However, the privatisation measures only hit their
peak in 1996. This was exactly ten years after the violent suppression of the miners in
the
Marcha por la Vida
(March for Life) in 1986, when approximately 30.000 demon-
strators protested the massive dismissals of miners and the minimisation of the state
mining sector. Additionally, the privatisation of the hydrocarbon sector in 1996 was a
highly socially contested affair despite its implementation. From then on, the state only
administered concessions. A few weeks after this privatisation, the new hydrocarbon
law was enacted (Gandarillas 2008: 61f.).
The pendulum swung back towards nationalisation again ten years later, when the
hydrocarbon sector was formally nationalised between 2005 and 2007. No nationali-
sation took place in the mining sector specifically, but the state's role was strengthened
by a series of policy measures. Whereas the monetary contribution of the mining sec-
tor to the Bolivian state was marginal during the privatisation period, it is currently a
strategic source of income, notwithstanding the dependency on international markets
and cyclical tendencies (Wanderley et al. 2010). The rising importance of the min-
ing sector for the Bolivian economy is evinced by data from the export sector. This
data shows that between 2001 to 2004 the exports from the manufacturing sector
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