Vladimir Diaz-Cuellar studied law and sociology in Bolivia. He then spent time researching constitutional law for a consulting firm before becoming involved in a institute where he researched the economics of mining in Bolivia.
At that time, he began looking for a graduate program that would allow him to study overseas.
“I had good references from people about the Political Economy program at Carleton,” says Diaz-Cuellar. “I was very interested in economic issues but I have never been comfortable with mainstream economics. So this program was very interesting.”
The Master of Arts in Political Economy focuses on investigating the relationship between the economy and politics as they affect the social and cultural life of societies.
After talking with professors from the Institute of Political Economy, he decided to come to Carleton to pursue a Master’s degree.
As part of his degree, he focused his research project on the contemporary debates on “extractive” industries in Latin America: the literature on the so-called “extractivism”. These are industries that remove large quantities of natural resources that are not processed (or processed only to a limited degree), especially for export as they are in high demand.
Diaz-Cuellar explains that, in the last 15 years, Latin America has experienced a major expansion of the extractive industries (mining, oil, natural gas, and agriculture). This expansion was triggered by the boom in the prices of multiple commodities due to the expansion of manufacturing in China.
“In this context, a fast-growing group of Latin American scholars has been analyzing this phenomenon and criticizing the governments in the region for encouraging a dependent articulation of Latin America to the world economy, that is, for making the region a raw material producer for the industrial economies,” says Diaz-Cuellar.
For his research paper, he reviewed the main arguments of the literature, both theoretical and empirical, in order to assess its validity.
He concluded that, despite the fact that it is evident that there has been an impressive expansion of the extractive sectors in Latin America, this phenomenon has to be considered a global one because a similar expansion has taken place all around the world, in particular, in the main industrial economies of the world: China and the U.S.
“Therefore, it is not an opposition between industrial and raw-material-producer regions that is at stake but a global process of expansion of these industries triggered by an expansion of manufacturing,” explains Diaz-Cuellar. “And its consequences are also global with particular impacts being more prominent in some regions: economic shifts, environmental degradation, health impacts (illnesses and death of workers) and violent conflicts over deposits.”
Diaz-Cuellar has now completed his master’s program and will be graduating in June.
He says he learned a lot from his two supervisors. “I owe them a lot, not only in academic terms but as a person. Cristina Rojas, in particular, has been amazing to me. She has been the most supportive person I have ever met and she has been helped me out in any single aspect I can think of. I am extremely grateful to her. Peter Gose has been fundamental because of his ample knowledge of Anthropology, History and Marx that expanded my horizons. I think two great academic relationships and friendships have just started.”
Diaz-Cuellar says that the Political Economy program is excellent. “I want to highlight the work of Donna Coghill, the graduate administrator,” says Diaz-Cuellar. “She has been extremely supportive with everybody and I think, in many respects, is a cornerstone of the Institute.
After he graduates, Diaz-Cuellar plans on returning to Bolivia for a year. He will be working on some articles he wants to publish and will also be working with Dr. Rojas. He is also planning on applying for a PhD program that will start September 2017.
