News

Hipólita Siqueira
Associate Professor (IPPUR/UFRJ)
CNPq Research Productivity Fellow PQ-2
hipolitaufrj@gmail.com

Just as in the colonial period, Latin America’s contemporary insertion into the commercial circuits of the world economy has remained largely concentrated in the export of natural resource–intensive goods. The commodity price supercycle in the early 21st century—driven largely by China’s growing demand and by financialization—resulted in a significant increase in Latin American exports of mineral, agricultural, and energy commodities (Michelotti; Siqueira, 2019). The intensification of (re)specialization in primary goods with low technological complexity has inspired several studies, grounded in distinct theoretical traditions, on reprimarization and extractivism. Beyond the historical continuity of financial and technological dependence in these countries, it is also possible to observe the shaping of a new international ecological division of labor, marked by “ecodependence” (Acselrad, 2023).

More recently, it has become important to update this discussion in light of the challenges facing humanity amidst the global conjuncture of polycrises and transitions across multiple dimensions. This occurs within a financialized economic system, linked to a geoeconomic and geopolitical context marked by ruptures stemming from the new technological race of the fourth industrial revolution, the so-called “energy transition” and decarbonization policies, and disputes over “critical and strategic” natural resources. These latter resources are essential for supplying strategic sectors due to their application in high-technology products and processes, for generating trade surpluses, or for national defense and security purposes. On the other hand, the resurgence of industrial policies in core countries—combined with regional (place-based) development policies—has opened possibilities for the territorial reorganization of production and supply chains through movements known as reshoring (bringing industrial productive processes back within national borders); nearshoring (relocating parts of supply chains to geographically proximate countries); friendshoring (relocating segments of supply chains to allied and strategic countries); and powershoring (relocating production to countries with renewable-based energy matrices) (Siqueira, 2025).

This context of radical uncertainty raises questions about the risks of intensifying “green” extractivisms (Bringel; Svampa, 2023), the reprimarization of exports, and the deindustrialization of Brazil’s productive base. From the standpoint of the economic effects of export (re)primarization, the literature has largely approached the issue from a macroeconomic angle, with emphasis on the still-unsettled debate regarding the “curse” or “blessing” of natural resources. In the regional development literature, emphasis is placed on the potential for creating productive complexes and territorial agglomerations in regions specialized in the export of primary goods, thereby overlooking the diverse configurations of regional enclave economies.

In the research projects Territories of Reprimarization: Commodities and Regional Development in Brazil (PQ-CNPq) and Regional Development in Rio de Janeiro in the Context of Territorial Reprimarization (Cientista do Nosso Estado–FAPERJ), developed within the CNPq research group Espaço e Poder at IPPUR/UFRJ, I argue for the importance of going beyond a strictly macroeconomic perspective. A territorial perspective on the transitions underway is crucial. The configuration of multiple regional enclave economies carries implications across multiple dimensions (productive, geographic, political, social, environmental, and cultural) and across multiple spatial scales. Analyzing the sectoral specificities of commodities and their distinct territorial insertion logics within global value chains is essential for understanding the process we refer to as territorial reprimarization and its consequences for uneven regional and urban dynamics (Siqueira, 2022), as well as for development strategies and urban and regional planning.

In this sense, it becomes important to reexamine and assess the pertinence of using the concept of the enclave to better understand the spaces produced by contemporary economic dynamics. Authors such as Phelps et al. (2015) highlight the shortcomings of the contemporary literature in regional and urban economics and in economic geography regarding this concept—especially at a time when many so-called territorial agglomerations appear to function more as territorial enclaves. This is largely due to the structure of global value chains under the governance of transnational corporations and powerful nation-states.

Thus, the segments with the greatest potential for regional development tend to be concentrated in specific nodes of global economic networks. Given the sectoral specificities and the various forms of insertion into the circuits and value networks that articulate multiple spatial scales (local, regional, national, and global), analyzing the wide variety of productive territorial enclaves is essential for better understanding the role of commodities in regional development and in the urbanization of Latin American nations—especially Brazil. From a macro-geographical standpoint, it is important to situate the formation of natural resource peripheries at the center of debates on contemporary global territorial reconfiguration, marked by a context of polycrises and transitions.

Territorial Reprimarization and Regional Development in Brazil

In Brazil—a country of continental dimensions—important transformations are occurring in the productive structure, accompanied by a trend toward (re)specialization of the export basket in natural resource–intensive goods. Several studies have concluded that there is a strong trend toward deindustrialization, that is, a reduction in the density of Brazil’s productive chains (Morceiro, 2021; Monteiro Neto, 2021). In this sense, important links in productive chains have been lost, both in quantity and quality, in contrast to the period of import-substitution industrialization, during which economic growth was accompanied by significant diversification of the productive structure.

Considering the issues posed by a new national and international context and by the specific characteristics of Brazil’s interregional division of labor, the macro-geographical perspective on regional economic development becomes more complex. The classical discussion of macro-regional trends of concentration and deconcentration of productive activity—framed within the process of national market integration and industrialization (1930–1980)—faces important limitations (Siqueira, 2015). The increasing heterogeneity across Brazilian macro-regions, with the emergence of subregions posting higher growth and productivity rates driven by commodities, as well as their implications for the reconfiguration of the urban network, have become more relevant in the current context of heightened internationalization and reprimarization.

Within this research agenda, I highlight the following questions: Do the specific characteristics of commodities (regarding their production processes, technologies, location, uses and labor remuneration, infrastructure, land and rent appropriation, territorial division of labor, the role of the state and transnational corporations, etc.) constitute distinct “modern enclaves” or productive territorial agglomerations? What are the implications and limitations of territorial reprimarization for regional development, urbanization, public policy, and urban and regional planning in Brazil?

Given this set of issues, in addition to Latin American theoretical frameworks, the research also engages with Peck’s (2024) reflections within the cooperation agreement between IPPUR and the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. Peck (2024) seeks to systematize a method for comparative conjunctural and relational analysis—an innovative approach in the fields of economic geography, urban and regional studies, and public policy—to better understand how economic, social, and political dynamics combine in particular historical conjunctures and spatial contexts. From this perspective, a multiscalar understanding that links regional dynamics to national and international ones is central, considering the region as a co-producer of processes, policies, and economic practices across different spatial and institutional scales (Peck; Siqueira, 2024).

References

ACSELRAD, Henri. Capitalismo extrativo. A terra é redonda. 3 de junho de 2023. https://aterraeredonda.com.br/capitalismo-extrativo/
BRINGEL, Breno; SVAMPA, Maristela. Del “Consenso de los Commodities” al “Consenso de la Descarbonización”. Nueva Sociedad, 306, 2023.
MICHELOTTI, Fernando; SIQUEIRA, Hipólita. Financeirização das Commodities Agrícolas e Economia do Agronegócio no Brasil. Semestre Económico, 22, 87-106, 2019.
MORCEIRO, Paulo. Methodological influence on Brazilian deindustrialization. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy. v. 41, n. 4, p. 700-
722, 2021.
MONTEIRO NETO, Aristides. (Org.) Brasil, Brasis: reconfigurações territoriais da indústria no século XXI. Brasília: IPEA, 2021.
PECK, Jamie. Praticando metodologias para análises de conjuntura: abordando o capitalismo chinês. Revista GEOgrafias, v. 20, n. 1, 2024.
PECK, Jamie; SIQUEIRA, Hipólita. Geografias do desenvolvimento desigual. Revista GEOgrafias, v. 20, n. 1, 2024.
PHELPS, Nicholas A.; ATIENZA, Miguel; ARIAS, Martin. Encore for the Enclave: the changing nature of the industry enclave with illustrations from the mining industry in Chile. Economic Geography, 91 (2), 119-146, 2015.
SIQUEIRA, Hipólita. Tendências de investimento e da dinâmica regional brasileira em tempos de reprimarização territorial, 2025 (no prelo).
SIQUEIRA, Hipólita. Reprimarización territorial: preguntas sobre el desarrollo regional y la urbanización en Brasil. Regional Studies Association Blog. 16 de novembro de 2022. https://www.regionalstudies.org/rsa-blog/blog-reprimarizacion-territorial-preguntas-sobre-el-desarrollo-regional-y-la-urbanizacion-en-brasil/
SIQUEIRA, Hipólita. Novo desenvolvimentismo e dinâmica urbano-regional no Brasil (2004-2012). Eure, 41, 261-277, 2015.

Originally published in IPPUR Bulletin No. 92, December 15, 2025