The New Scramble for the Periphery: Green Imperialism, Critical Minerals, and the Political Economy of the Energy Transition

Abstract

The global mandate to transition away from fossil-fueled energy systems toward renewable technologies has generated an unprecedented demand for critical minerals, fundamentally restructuring the geopolitical economy of the 21st century. This comprehensive paper provides a critical Marxist analysis of the "green transition," arguing that the current market-led decarbonization paradigm does not represent a rupture from extractive capitalism, but rather an acceleration of it. We conceptualize this dynamic as "green imperialism"—a system in which the Global North achieves its ecological modernization and climate targets through the systematic expropriation of resources, labor, and ecological vitality from the Global South. By mapping the highly consolidated supply chains of lithium, cobalt, copper, and nickel, we document how transnational mining conglomerates and commodity trading houses monopolize the foundational inputs of the post-carbon economy. This study provides in-depth empirical evaluations of extraction zones in the Lithium Triangle of South America, the cobalt belt of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the nickel laterite reserves of Indonesia, illustrating the devastating socio-ecological externalities imposed upon indigenous and marginalized populations. Furthermore, we analyze the geoeconomic friction between the United States, the European Union, and China, demonstrating how state-led industrial policies (such as the US Inflation Reduction Act) weaponize critical mineral supply chains to secure technological hegemony under the guise of climate action. The paper evaluates the burgeoning wave of resource nationalism across the Global South as a counter-hegemonic response, while ultimately concluding that a truly just transition cannot be achieved through the mass substitution of internal combustion engines with electric vehicles. We propose a radical, post-extractivist political economy framework rooted in degrowth, the decommodification of transit, and the abolition of unequal ecological exchange.