Using the framework of critical international political economy, the contributors challenge the long held views about the ways natural resources shape political and economic outcomes. They examine how the specific features of the resource sector creates particular dynamics of policy change, and therefore, the range of development options for the Global South move beyond adopting unregulated, open extractive markets. In so doing, they explore the extent to which neoliberalism as a global political project has both constrained and opened opportunities for economic development in the global South. The volume engages with development theory and political economy literature by exploring the ideational construction, implementation, and subsequent recalibration of mining reforms in the last three decades across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The politics of claiming rights and strategies of mobilisation exhibited by marginalised social groups lie at the heart of this volume. Theoretically, the authors aims to foster a holistic and multi-faceted understanding of how social and economic justice is claimed, either through formal, corporatist or organised mechanisms, or through ad hoc, informal, or individualised practices, as well as the implications of these distinctive activist strategies. The collection emphasises both the difficulties of political mobilisation and the distinctive methods employed by various social groups across a variety of contexts to respond and overcome these challenges. Crucially, the authors' approach involves a conceptualisation of social movements and local mobilisation in terms of the language of rights and justice claims-making through more organised as well as everyday political practices. In so doing, the book bridges the literature on contentious politics, the politics of claiming social justice, and everyday politics of resistance.

The politics of claiming rights and strategies of mobilisation exhibited by marginalised social groups lie at the heart of this volume. Theoretically, the authors aims to foster a holistic and multi-faceted understanding of how social and economic justice is claimed, either through formal, corporatist or organised mechanisms, or through ad hoc, informal, or individualised practices, as well as the implications of these distinctive activist strategies. The collection emphasises both the difficulties of political mobilisation and the distinctive methods employed by various social groups across a variety of contexts to respond and overcome these challenges. Crucially, the authors' approach involves a conceptualisation of social movements and local mobilisation in terms of the language of rights and justice claims-making through more organised as well as everyday political practices. In so doing, the book bridges the literature on contentious politics, the politics of claiming social justice, and everyday politics of resistance.

The political economy landscape has shifted as multinational corporations increase their investment efforts, changing the geographies of extraction. The contributors make the argument for the need of new theoretical perspectives anchored in critical political economy to address structural dynamics in the global industry.