What question did this study set out to answer?

This article seeks to understand the implications of new extractive policies under the green transition in Spain, through a decolonial lens.

May 3, 2026Open Access

The Imperial Extractivist Boomerang: The Spectre of (Un)just Transition in Spain

Key Points

This article seeks to understand the implications of new extractive policies under the green transition in Spain, through a decolonial lens.
Conducted semi-structured interviews
Performed fieldwork in Extremadura, Spain
Analyzed the San José lithium-mining project and EU pro-mining legislation
Revealed discrepancies between the EU's stated values and actual practices on the ground.
Conceptualized the return of colonial dispossession as an 'imperial extractivist boomerang'.
Highlighting that green extractivism cannot be understood without a critical decolonial approach.

Abstract

Taking a decolonial approach, this article examines how global economic centres are implementing a new wave of extractive policies in the name of the green and digital transition. Focusing on the San José lithium-mining project in Extremadura, Spain, it illustrates how colonial logics of dispossession, having been exported to the peripheries, are now returning to the core in a reshaped form. We conceptualize this dynamic as an “imperial extractivist boomerang”, revealing that the EU’s new pro-mining legislation is not only about securing access to critical minerals, but is also about altering legal, territorial, and political conditions to facilitate extraction. Based on semi-structured interviews and fieldwork, the article highlights the discrepancy between the EU’s proclaimed democratic and environmental values and the situation on the ground. Ultimately, it concludes that green extractivism in the Global North cannot be understood outside of a critical and decolonial framework.

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