Understanding the persistence of extractivism: an insight from East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Exploring political-economic histories illuminates contemporary reality. The phenomenon of extractivism serves as a compatible context for examining the re-making of state-society relations over a broad period, given that extractivism is continuously evolving, in response to the emerging contestation. Bringing together Gramsci’s framework of “hegemony” with historical analysis approach, this paper examines why and how extractivism persists in East Kalimantan across political regime, since the colonial period to the present day. This paper demonstrates how the dominant groups’ interest to sustain extractivism is legitimized through various strategies, which differ from one period to another, and also how the broader structure contributed to the attainment. In doing so, I investigate the contestations surrounding extractivism and the political economy structure where extractivism taking place. I elaborate why and how the resistance movements have emerged, also how the ruling elites – local and central government and business elites – respond to them through deploying coercive measures (civic oppression, criminalization), sharing material benefit via (physical) development program and also incorporating the alternative view of the opposition groups (adoption of their agenda). I suggest that these dynamics determine the variety direction of extractivism, despite its usual association to colonialism and global capitalism, as exemplified by the differing phenomenon of extractivism between East Kalimantan-Indonesia and Latin America presented in this paper.