Journal of Law and Political Economy

This article examines the historical and contemporary relations between law and extractivism in the Anthropocene. As an organizing concept of our times, extractivism describes the intensive removal of raw materials—largely from the Global South—for processing and consumption in the Global North. Extractivism is entwined with the histories and legacies of colonialism and imperialism and is central to the entrenched operations and politics of contemporary capitalism. It (re)produces a racialized global political economy and attendant climate and ecological crises. Although legal scholars have long been concerned with regulating extractive activities, attention has only recently turned to the notion of extractivism as a logic, ideology, imaginary, or imperative connected with law. This article furthers this engagement by exploring how law authorizes extractivist relations and proposing a research agenda for envisioning and building nonextractive legal and political economic orders.