International Economics Commons^™

Primitive Accumulation And Multinational Corporations: The Evolution Of Dispossession And Exploitation In The Rubber Industry, Matthew Rochat

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

I examine how the process of primitive accumulation has led to evolving forms of dispossession and exploitation carried out by multinational corporations in the rubber industry. After a brief review of relevant literature, I outline a novel analytical approach to multinational corporations engaged in natural resource extraction, referred to as the Parasitic Extraction Model. I then demonstrate this approach using three case studies. The first, Leopold II’s Congo, showcases the barbaric underpinnings of primitive accumulation in the rubber industry in its crudest form. The subsequent section shifts to the interwar period with Fordlândia in the Brazilian Amazon where I analyze …