Felix Malte Dorn

Felix Malte Dorn
University of Vienna | UniWien · Institut für Internationale Entwicklung

PhD in Geography; Master in Economics

About

39
Publications
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Introduction
University assistant (post-doc) at the Department of Development Studies, University of Vienna. My current research focuses on the Political Economy of decarbonization and the accompanying valorization of climate change commodities such as lithium, and (green) hydrogen in Latin America and Europe.

Publications

Publications (39)
Article
Full-text available
The article examines how to adapt the global production network (GPN) approach to situations of natural resource extraction. Based on an integration of a political ecology perspective into GPN research, we exemplarily apply the GPN framework to the primary sector. Based on extensive qualitative fieldwork regarding Argentine lithium mining and Brazi...
Article
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The world’s major lithium reservoirs are located in South America in the so-called lithium triangle, and now attract international investments while simultaneously generating enormous expectations among the local population. Lithium is gaining importance in the world economy, both for new technologies and electric mobility, as well as in the contex...
Article
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Based on intensive and long-term field research and document reviews, this article compares the historic evolution of lithium mining in Chile and Argentina. We highlight national development discourses and government regulatory frameworks in both countries. We illustrate and assess the diverse perceptions and strategies of local actors. Finally, we...
Article
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Following the goal of a post-fossil economy, institutional actors promote techno-managerial solution strategies, for example the green economy and the bioeconomy. While these strategies focus on technological progress to decouple economic growth from carbon dioxide emissions, the associated additional demand for raw materials causes a new global la...
Article
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(Green) hydrogen has recently gained importance as a key element in the transition to a low-carbon energy future, sparking a boom in possible production regions. This article aims at situating incipient hydrogen production in the Argentine province of Río Negro within a global production network (GPN). The early configuration of the hydrogen-GPN in...
Article
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En el contexto de la transición energética global, este artículo busca analizar las dimensiones socioespaciales que caracterizan las geografías de la descarbonización en Argentina. Con esta intención, examina la minería del litio en la provincia de Jujuy y la producción de hidrógeno en la provincia de Río Negro, desde una perspectiva de economía po...
Article
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Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico hold a considerable share of lithium reserves globally. These countries developed specific policies to increase the contribution of lithium rents to national economic growth. Lithium policy in Latin America presents operative differences related to the state’s protagonism in promoting extraction. The we...
Article
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Global challenges call for timely social-ecological transformation. There is a substantial amount of literature on social-ecological transformation, increasingly replacing and going beyond 'sustainability'. However, the concept itself is used very inconsistently. This paper aims at identifying and systematizing the strains of argumentation that enc...
Article
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Low-carbon energy capacity continues to grow, facilitating the much-needed transition away from fossil fuels. However, broader sustainability issues remain. This Voices asks: what barriers continue to obstruct a truly sustainable energy transition?
Article
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Seit 2010 kämpfen indigene Gemeinden im Nordwesten Argentiniens gegen den Abbau von Lithium. Sie fürchten Wasserknappheit und die Enteignung ihrer Territorien. Eine Verfassungsreform in der dortigen Provinz Jujuy begünstigt Lithiumabbau und sanktioniert Protestformen. Damit radikalisiert sich der Protest, der nun auch die Hauptstadt erreicht.
Article
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“El agua vale más que el litio”. Ante los recientes hechos relacionados con la reforma constitucional en la provincia de Jujuy, el mensaje de la foto ganadora del concurso fotográfico de Población y Sociedad es de una actualidad alarmante. En junio 2023, con la reforma de la Constitución provincial la oposición a la minería del litio y las protesta...
Chapter
Als essenzieller Bestandteil von Lithium-Ionen-Batterien soll der Bedarf für Lithium in den kommenden Jahren rasant steigen. Vielerorts kommt es dabei zu territorialen Veränderungen und sozial-ökologischen Konflikten. Am Beispiel von Lithium skizziere ich in diesem Beitrag, wie die globale Energiewende einerseits koloniale Strukturen fortschreibt....
Article
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Global production networks (GPN) provide a powerful multi-scalar approach for analyzing the organization of production, but lack the means for conceptualizing social-ecological issues. Territory and territoriality underline the epistemological character of socio-environmental problems. Territoriality is an underdeveloped conceptual resource for ana...
Chapter
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Für das Ziel der Dekarbonisierung fördern institutionelle Akteur*innen und die Privatwirtschaft vor allem techno-optimistische Lösungsstrategien wie die Grüne Ökonomie oder die Bioökonomie. Anhand des Lithium-Bergbaus in Argentinien sowie des Soja-Agrobusiness in Brasilien werden wir darstellen, wie institutionelle Akteur*innen und Unternehmen zune...
Chapter
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Die globale Energiewende basiert auch weiterhin auf der Externalisierung von Arbeitskraft, Ressourcen und Senken. Somit erhöht die Energiewende den Druck auf die natürlichen Ressourcen Lateinamerikas und reproduziert die Stellung des Kontinents als globaler Rohstofflieferant. In diesem Rahmen findet vor allem in (wissenschafts-)aktivistischen Kreis...
Article
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Drawing on various empirical examples (e.g. lithium, green hydrogen, REDD+), several studies point out that the global energy transition continues to be based on the geographic externalization of labour, natural resources, and sinks. The energy transition thus increases the pressure on natural resources in Latin America and reproduces the continent...
Article
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Since the 1960s, the integration of local economic activities into global structures has fostered a continuous increase in the production of cash crops in Brazil. This has led to a far-reaching transformation of formerly peripheral regions. Given their wide range of uses, soybeans are a prime example of flex crops, which are becoming ever more impo...
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The notion of the imperial mode of living (IML) has been widely taken up in both academic, activist and sociopolitical contexts. More recently, scholars have begun to explore the concept not only theoretically, but also empirically, dealing with how the IML works in practice. We see great potential for human geography to ground the IML. To do so, i...
Article
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Lithium is discursively linked with 'sustainable' technological innovations. Electromobility is expected to be a-still market-based and growth-centred-answer to the ecological effects of the capitalist economic system. As a result, the sharp increase in worldwide lithium mining project is a vivid example of a form of continuation of the imperial mo...
Article
Die Sojabohne hat sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten zu einer der erfolgreichsten Cash Crops auf den internationalen Agrarmärkten entwickelt. Sie ist wegen ihrer vielfältigen Verwendungsmöglichkeiten, beispielsweise als Nahrungsmittel oder Biotreibstoff, ein Musterbeispiel für die im globalen Agrargeschäft immer wichtigeren Flex Crops. Eines der weltw...
Presentation
In the 21st century, humanity faces a series of major challenges (for example, health, inequality, biodiversity, climate). Against the background of current sustainability transitions, dominant solution approaches are primarily focused on technological progress, resulting in a new and additional demand for transition minerals (also known as climate...
Book
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Lithium ist ein Rohstoff, der im Rahmen von Energiespeichern für erneuerbare Energien und die Elektromobilität dringend erforderlich erscheint, um die globale Klimakrise in den Griff zu bekommen. Dabei werden bislang eher abgelegene Regionen in Globale Produktionsnetzwerke integriert. Am Beispiel des Hochlands in Nordwest-Argentinien analysiert Fel...
Presentation
Von Innovationen im Rahmen der Klimawandelanpassung, darunter beispielsweise die Elektromobilität, geht eine starke Legitimierungswirkung für die Rohstoffextraktion aus. Hinsichtlich der in diesem Kontext stattfindenden Kommodifizierung von Naturressourcen sprechen wir deshalb von „Climate Change Commodities“. Mithilfe von zwei Rohstoffen, dem Lith...
Article
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In the context of climate change, electro-mobility has become a symbol of hope to reduce the emissions of the growing transport sector. At the same time, it has also renewed interest in strategic resources utilized in battery production, such as lithium. In the areas of extraction, reactions to lithium mining range from hope for paid work and incre...
Thesis
The light metal lithium has gained momentum in recent years. It is considered an essential component for the manufacture of Li-Ion batteries. In the context of electromobility, the resource is therefore considered a crucial element for the green economy and the sustainability transition. While lithium is considered a key raw material for reducing a...
Chapter
In Northern Mato Grosso, the expansion of the soybean agribusiness caused deep transformations of economic, social and territorial structures. This is especially true for the BR-163 corridor. Under the influence of a highly modernized and globalized production system, regional and local actor constellations, social and power relations, as well as t...
Article
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La electro-movilidad polariza. Si bien la industria automotriz, los gobiernos y muchos medios de comunicación asignan a la movilidad eléctrica un importante rol en la lucha contra el cambio climático y la contaminación atmosférica, la producción de baterías de alto rendimiento también va acompañada de una creciente demanda de materias primas estrat...
Article
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El litio adquiere cada vez una mayor importancia en la economía mundial, tanto para las nuevas tecnologías y la movilidad eléctrica, como para la transición energética. Las principales reservas de este recurso se encuentran en Sudamérica (en el llamado Triángulo del Litio), lo cual atrae importantes inversiones internacionales y simultáneamente gen...
Chapter
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Das Thema Elektro-Automobilität polarisiert. Während Automobilindustrie, Regierung und viele Medien die Elektromobilität als „entscheidenden Beitrag zur Entschärfung der Klimakrise und der Luftverschmutzung“ (Hartung 2018: 561) bewerben, geht die Produktion leistungsstarker Akkus auch mit einem zunehmenden Bedarf kritischer Rohstoffe, darunter das...
Chapter
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The concept of resilience is gaining popularity in the past years. Nonetheless, the adduced aim of persistence of a system also carries the risk of externalising both social as well as ecological costs. This becomes noticeable regarding the shift towards post-fossil economies in the Global North. Within the expansion of renewable energies and elect...
Presentation
While especially the microelectronic industry triggered the growth of lithium consumption in the past two decades, the ascription as a strategic resource can be traced back to the mere expectation of its importance for future technologies and future Green Economy scenarios. Next to the renewable energy industry and its need for energetic storage ca...
Article
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Argentine soy production from the 1990s to the 2010s has shown major shifts in both production techniques and the ping-pong-relationships between the agribusiness and national governments. The objective of this paper is to introduce a new statistics-based perspective on soy production in Argentina. We analyse variables of technological innovation,...
Chapter
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The following article contributes to the debate on social-ecological transformations by exemplifying and giving response to the concept's analytical dimension. Considering the cases of soybean cultivation and lithium mining in Argentina, barriers and limitations of social-ecological transformations are elucidated by pointing out recent transformati...
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Nach der Krise von 1998 bis 2002 gab es in Argentinien große ökonomische Fortschritte. Steigender BIP-Wachstumsraten, jährliche Rekordernten sowie Rekordprofite ließen das 'Modell Soja' zu einer Erfolgsgeschichte werden. Angesichts historisch vulnerabler Rohstoffpreise und zunehmender Polarisierungs- und Fragmentierungstendenzen greift eine ausschl...
Book
Full-text available
Anthology of the "International Doctoral Consortium of Sustainable Spatial Development“ Conference 2015 in Innsbruck, Austria. Artikles in German and English
Thesis
From the media to the organisations of capital, the Argentine model of commodity export-based economic growth is often presented as an economic success story. Besides clarifying recent and historic economic trends in Argentina, this work aims at outlining social and environmental consequences of the Argentine soy model. I argue that the complete in...

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Question (1)
Question
I'm working in the broad field of political ecology and I'm currently co-authoring an article about the social-ecological consequences of the digital economy (material anchor, territorialities, conflicts). I'm therefore looking for literature about the digital economy I might have missed so far. I'm pleased about all suggestions. Many thanks in advance!

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