Internal Colonialism as Socio-Ecological Fix: The Case of New Clark City in the Philippines

Abstract

We study the emergence of New Clark City, Philippines, which is part of the country's development programme “Build-Build-Build”. Triangulating data from field observations, interviews, and documents, we analyse the social, economic, and ecological consequences of this “city of the future”. The city enables capital to be fixed into space, which (i) creates new accumulation opportunities for investors, (ii) lubricates capital circulation, shortening turnover times and lowering costs, and (iii) staves off a multitude of longstanding barriers faced by capital and state actors by reordering space along the lines of the Philippines’ geographical expansion and spatial restructuring strategy. Aiming to address a geographical-switching crisis, this socio-ecological fix goes hand-in-hand with the stark reality of an internal colonialist agenda, resulting in negative consequences for local and Indigenous communities. We contribute to the socio-ecological fix literature by arguing that internal colonialism offers a vital lens to understand capital expansion from the centre to the periphery.