Prospecting, Expanding, Restoring: Law and Extractivism in the Anthropocene

This special issue on Law and Extractivism in the Anthropocene explores the extractive machinery of late liberalism through the prism of law. Our introduction outlines the stakes and complexities of theorising extractivism and situates the contributions within this scholarship. The extractive sequence of the conventional mining cycle - prospecting, expanding, restoring - thematically organises the issue. From different points of departure, each article explores the intractable relationship between law and extractivism, collectively unearthing the historical and ideological origins of extractivism, its present currents and instantiations in projects across the world, and the possible future courses that a post-extractivist order might take.