ABSTRACT
Post-development emerged in the search for alternatives to neoliberal development that would ensure sustainability, improve quality of life, and increase wellbeing. Post-development focuses on the critique of traditional development, economic growth, and the current neoliberal economic system, which means that it only questions a discourse, and does not offer concrete practical solutions. This chapter examines Buen Vivir in the context of extractivism to better understand what challenges an extractive economy poses on the achievement of Buen Vivir. Latin American scholars like Escobar and Esteva have been instrumental in influencing the global post-development debate. The idea of an “alternative to development” has become an important trend in the search for a practical solution rather than a pure discourse critique. Modern extraction and accumulation in Latin America can be traced back to the conquest of the Americas.
