Unfinished business: state-building and large-scale mining under the Citizen’s Revolution in Ecuador

Abstract

This paper shows the institutional legacy of the two late XX century modes of natural resources governance that prevailed in Ecuador, and the advances made by the current government to go beyond the limits of these previous models. The work describes the changes that the government has introduced with regards to formal institutions, like laws and the creation of new state agencies for the regulation of large‐scale mining activities in Ecuador. It concludes that there is a new governance model in place, and proposes that this transformation may be indicating a future departure of Ecuador from its historical path towards a rentier state.