Description
Since the 2010s decade, the notion of sacrifice zones and their association to the country’s history of industrialisation and mining extractive economy, alongside the presence of coal power-plants has taken increased relevance in debates about just transitions and uneven development (Castán Broto and Sanzana Calvet, 2020; Espinoza, 2022). This article proposes the concept of necropolitical development to understand the sacrifice zones in Chile and the state's efforts to address them within the context of the national energy transition. By looking at the historical, economic and political dimensions behind the constitution of such zones in Chile, alongside efforts to deal with them that have taken place since the Bachelet second government and the decarbonisation plan, the article proposes a deeper understanding of how these areas are constituted and the role they play in the operational landscapes for national and international urbanisation processes (Arboleda, 2016). Drawing on international relations, critical urban theory and anticolonial literature (Newell, 2024; Danewid, 2023; Arboleda, 2016; Brenner and Katsikis 2014; Escobar, 2012), the paper makes three contributions (i) it offers an interpretation of sacrifice zones amidst broader questions of progress and development that go beyond capitalism by putting the notion of ‘necropolitical development’ forward, (ii) enriches the understanding of the limits of postcolonial states to deal with these territories, and (iii) it delineates the challenges faced to enable something-like just transitions for these areas.
