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Henry Veltmeyer and James Petras The New Extractivism: A Post-Neoliberal Development Model or Imperialism of the Twenty-First Century? Zed Books, London and New York, 2014; 320 pp: 9781780329925, 19.99 [pounds [...]

The recent global commodity boom created new opportunities and challenges for countries that are net agricultural producers. Natural resources literature has explored how the sudden appearance of extraordinary revenues in resource rich countries impacts upon growth, political institutions, and conflicts. However, there has been less attention paid to how already existing arrangements can shape distributional conflicts that emerge as a response. This article analyses the design and implementation of fiscal policy during the soy boom in Argentina and Brazil. It is argued that domestic institutions play a key role in mediating the capacity of the state regarding the design and implementation of tax structures related to natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the expansion of the soybean complex in South America and the role of Chinese firms in expanding their presence in different sectors of the oilseed complex. The growth in trade relations between the two parties has been built on the export of primary commodities from South America and the import of Chinese manufactures—a trade pattern that reproduces core‐periphery dynamics identified by dependency theory scholars. Of particular importance in this bilateral trade is soybean, a crop that has been consolidated as the main export for several South American countries, fuelled by growing demand from China. This article explores China's role in the global political economy as a key agri‐business player and the implications for new relations of dependency by studying the strategies deployed by Chinese firms to increase their influence in the governance of the soybean nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]