Debating Alternative Development at the Mining Frontier: Buen Vivir and the Conflict around El Mirador Mine in Ecuador

In Ecuador, the recent introduction of mineral mining led to a conflictive debate on mining and development, particularly the concept of Buen Vivir (good living). This article examines the discourses on the mining-development nexus articulated in the conflict around the first large-scale mine of Ecuador, El Mirador. The findings indicate that although the conflict concerns tangible territorial transformations, it is also a struggle over meanings. In this struggle, Buen Vivir has become subject to strategic framing processes and eventually turned into an empty signifier. The case of El Mirador illustrates the challenges of advancing Buen Vivir from concept to practice in the context of a search for a post-neoliberal development framework.