ABSTRACT
Latin America has witnessed repeated debates and policy initiatives on the issue of the national control of natural resources. At least since the middle of the 1990s, distinct narratives on natural resource nationalism have emerged, which played an important role in the political transformation that occurred in several South American countries when a new left replaced conservative governments. The Compensatory State is also distinct from the neoliberal state, which characterized Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s. Even if it is accepted that in some countries and in some sectors, progressive reforms were limited, they still expressed intentions, institutional fixes and political discourses that were very different from the neoliberals. While the appropriation of surplus is important for the Compensatory State, it is important to clarify that, in the case of South American progressivism, the concept of a rentier state does not apply.
