Toward a theory of ecologically unequal exchange

Abstract

This chapter is a condensed reprint of the key theoretical arguments in Stephen G. Bunker's (1985) Underdeveloping the Amazon: Extraction, Unequal Exchange, and the Failure of the Modern State. This work is an oft-cited classic in the field of ecologically unequal exchange (EUE). In it, Bunker argues that the socioecological consequences of extractive economies differ from those of productive economies. Analysis of underdevelopment in extractive export economies requires an analysis of the cumulative effects of the sequence of local modes of extraction organized in response to world-system demands. A model of EUE is presented that is a synthesis of various theories of development and underdevelopment. This model is presented through a case study of the sequence of extractive export economies in the Amazon Basin from colonial conquest to the modern era.