The anti‐politics of sustainable development: Environmental critique from assemblage thinking in Bolivia
Jessica Hope
Abstract
In this paper I argue that assemblage theory provides an innovative way to extend critique of sustainable development as it is being remade by the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Drawing on recent fieldwork in Bolivia, I examine the early take‐up and implementation of the SDGs in a site of intensifying resource extraction and struggles for radical development alternatives. Based on this analysis, I argue that the SDGs as assemblage act as a form of anti‐politics by rendering neutral and apolitical the conflictive politics of extractivism.
Topics & Concepts
Assemblage (archaeology)Sustainable developmentPoliticsEnvironmental ethicsSociologyPolitical scienceGeographyLawArchaeologyPhilosophyMining and Resource ManagementWater Governance and InfrastructureGlobal trade, sustainability, and social impact