Why Bolivia is Late to The Lithium Race

Abstract

Bolivia, with its enormous lithium reserves, has been earmarked as a potential global player in the lithium market, as the escalating demand for lithium worldwide has followed the renewables transition. However, despite this natural wealth and not much of a budding political momentum under Evo Morales' administration, Bolivia remains dismally absent from the global lithium market. This thesis posits that Bolivia's delayed entry to the "lithium race" does not stem solely from technical barriers or nationalist economic policies, but deeper structural, institutional, and socio-political failures that lie within the country's peripheral position in the global economy. The study-theoretically informed by world-systems theory, dependency theory, as well as the concept of embedded autonomy, critically examines how under Morales' government the lithium industrialization stirred historic Indigenous aspirations for sovereignty while replicating patterns of dependency and exclusion that have been experienced by communities in history. Based on eighteen semi-structured interviews with Indigenous leaders, local residents and municipal officials in the region surrounding the Salar de Uyuni, this research foregrounds the day-to-day existences and views of those most directly affected by lithium extraction. Early optimism toward a state-led model of lithium industrialization gradually disappeared into disillusionment when Indigenous communities began to realize that the same standard extractivist practice was being reproduced, along with environmental degradation, no local benefits, and decisions made without free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC). This thesis combines historical analysis, sociological theory, and qualitative fieldwork to argue that meaningful lithium industrialization in Bolivia will need not only technical and financial resources but also a fundamental new thinking about models for resource governance. This study thus contributes to broader debates on post-extractivism, Indigenous resistance, and alternative pathways for development in peripheral states navigating global capitalist pressures.