Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:45:34.003Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

PRIVATE CONFLICT REGULATION AND THE INFLUENCE OF PEASANT COMMUNITIES OVER NATURAL RESOURCES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Maria-Therese Gustafsson*
Affiliation:
Stockholm University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Until recently, the Peruvian government to a great extent has given corporations the responsibility for resolving the increasing number of conflicts with local communities in mining localities. In the literature on political and economic reforms, mobilization, and democratic influence, few studies have addressed the role of corporations in relation to those processes. This study contributes an analysis of how corporate-community relations affect communities' ability to mobilize and influence mining projects. The article is based on two case studies in which local communities pursued different demands and analyzes how corporations used various strategies to deal with demands and protests. The empirical analysis demonstrates that local communities can achieve influence by opposing projects as well as by collaborating with corporations. However, these forms of mobilization have different impacts on the collective identities and organizational structures that are essential to the scope of democratic influence for those groups.

Resumen

RESUMEN

El gobierno peruano ha delegado en gran medida la responsabilidad de resolver el creciente número de conflictos existente entre las comunidades locales de las localidades mineras a las empresas mineras. En lo que se refiere a la literatura existente sobre las reformas políticas y económicas, la movilización y la influencia democrática, cabe destacar que escasos estudios han abarcado el papel de las empresas en relación con estos procesos. Este estudio es una contribución al análisis sobre cómo las relaciones de la comunidad empresarial afectan por último a las posibilidades de movilizar e influir en proyectos mineros. El artículo se basa en el estudio de dos casos en los que las comunidades locales persiguen diferentes demandas, y analiza a su vez, cómo las empresas utilizan diversas estrategias para hacer frente a las demandas y protestas. El análisis empírico demuestra que las comunidades locales pueden lograr influencia en los proyectos de oposición, así como mediante la colaboración con las corporaciones. Sin embargo, estas formas de movilización tienen diferentes efectos sobre las identidades colectivas y sobre las estructuras organizativas, las cuales son esenciales para el alcance de la influencia democrática de esos grupos.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions. I would also like to thank Martin Scurrah, Almut Schilling-Vacaflor, and Fredrik Uggla for their valuable comments on early drafts.

References

REFERENCES

Andina 2007Debate sobre el Majaz se quedó en nada.” September 16.Google Scholar
Ballard, Chris, and Glenn Banks 2003Resource Wars: The Anthropology of Mining.” Annual Review of Anthropology 32:27313.Google Scholar
Bebbington, Anthony 2010Extractive Industries and Stunted States: Conflict, Responsibility and Institutional Change in the Andes.” In Corporate Social Responsibility: Comparative Critiques, edited by Raman, K. Ravi and Lipschutz, Ronnie D., 97115. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Bebbington, Anthony 2012Extractive Industries, Socio-Environmental Conflicts and Political Economic Transformations in Andean America.” In Social Conflict, Economic Development and Extractive Industry: Evidence from South America, edited by Bebbington, Anthony, 326. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bebbington, Anthony, Bebbington, Denise Humphreys, Bury, Jeffrey, Lingan, Jeannet, Muñoz, Juan Pablo, and Scurrah, Martin 2008Mining and Social Movements: Struggles over Livelihood and Rural Territorial Development in the Andes.” World Development 36 (12): 28882905.Google Scholar
Bebbington Anthony, Michael Connarty, Coxshall, Wendy, O'Shaughnessy, Hugh, Williams, Mark 2007Mining and Development in Peru with Special Reference to the Rio Blanco Project, Piura.” London: Peru Support Group.Google Scholar
Berins-Collier, Ruth, and Handlin, Samuel, eds. 2009 Reorganizing Popular Politics: Participation and the New Interest Regime in Latin America. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Bridge, Gavin 2004Mapping the Bonanza: Geographies of Mining Investment in an Era of Neoliberal Reform.” Professional Geographer 56 (3): 406421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheshire, Lynda 2010A Corporate Responsibility? The Constitution of Fly-In, Fly-Out Mining Companies as Governance Partners in Remote, Mine-Affected Localities.” Journal of Rural Studies 26 (1): 1220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crabtree, John, and Crabtree-Condor, Isabel 2012The Politics of Extractive Industries in the Central Andes.” In Social Conflict, Economic Development and Extractive Industries: Evidence from South America, edited by Bebbington, Anthony, 4664. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Crane, Andrew, Matten, Dirk, and Moon, Jeremy 2008 Corporations and Citizenship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cuadros, Julia, Consiglieri, Jaime, de Echave, José 2005Mapeo de la situación social e institucional del proyecto Las Bambas.” Lima: CooperAcción.Google Scholar
Damonte, Gerardo 2008 The Constitution of Political Actors. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller.Google Scholar
Damonte, Gerardo 2009Corporate Governance, Mining Funds and Territorial Development in the Peruvian Andes.” Working paper presented at Latin American Studies Association annual conference.Google Scholar
Damonte, Gerardo 2013Transformación de la representatividad política local en contextos extractivos a gran escala en los Andes Peruanos.” Unpublished paper.Google Scholar
Defensoría del Pueblo 2004 Reporte de conflictos sociales, no. 1. Lima.Google Scholar
Defensoría del Pueblo 2007 Ayuda memoria para el Comercio. September 5.Google Scholar
Defensoría del Pueblo 2009 Mapeo de conflictos en la Provincia de Cotabambas de la Región Apurímac.Google Scholar
Defensoría del Pueblo 2014 Informe de conflictos sociales, no. 125. Lima.Google Scholar
Dougherty, Michael L., and Olsen, Tricia D. 2014Taking Terrain Literally: Grounding Local Adaptation to Corporate Social Responsibility in the Extractive Industries.” Journal of Business Ethics 119 (3): 423434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Echave, José 2012 Apurímac: La gestión del territorio y minería. Cuzco: CooperAcción, CBC, and Groupe de Recherche et d'Echanges Technologiques.Google Scholar
Echave, José, Diez, Alejandro, Huber, Ludwig, Revesz, Bruno, Ricard, Xavier, and Tanaka, Martin 2009 Minería y conflicto social. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.Google Scholar
El Comercio 2010Xstrata firmó inversión por US$4.200 millones en Las Bambas.” September 3.Google Scholar
El Comercio 2015Minera MMG: Las Bambas producirá desde el primer trimestre.” November 4.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan 1996How Does Civil Society Thicken? The Political Construction of Social Capital in Rural Mexico.” World Politics 24 (6): 10891103.Google Scholar
Frooman, Jeff 1999Stakeholder Influence Strategies.” Academy of Management Review 24 (2): 191205.Google Scholar
Fuerabamba and Xstrata 2010Acuerdos entre la comunidad de Fuerabamba y Xstrata Copper.” Cotabambas, Peru.Google Scholar
Garretón, Manuel 1999Social and Economic Transformations in Latin America: The Emergence of a New Political Matrix.” In Markets and Democracy in Latin America: Conflict and Convergence?, edited by Oxhorn, Philip and Starr, Pamela, 6178. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Guzmán-Gallegos, María Antonieta 2012The Governing of Extraction, Oil Enclaves, and Indigenous Responses in the Ecuadorian Amazon.” In New Political Spaces in Latin American Natural Resource Governance, edited by Haarstad, Håvard, 155174. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haarstad, Håvard 2012Extracting Justice? Critical Themes and Challenges in Latin American Natural Resource Governance.” In New Political Spaces in Latin American Natural Resource Governance, edited by Haarstad, Håvard, 116. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Brayden 2008A Social Movement Perspective of Stakeholder Collective Action and Influence.” Business and Society 47 (1): 2149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kröger, Markus 2013 Contentious Agency and Natural Resource Politics. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
La República 2007aAbrumador‘NO’ a la mina.” September 17.Google Scholar
La República 2007bMajaz y alcaldes alistan para diálogo.” September 17.Google Scholar
Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas 2010 Informe técnico: Evolución de la pobreza al 2009. May. Lima: Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas.Google Scholar
Ministerio de Energía y Minas 2014 Cartera estimada de proyectos mineros. January.Google Scholar
Newell, Peter 2005Citizenship, Accountability and Community: The Limits of the CSR Agenda.” International Affairs 81 (3): 541557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo A. 2007 Dissonances: Democratic Critiques of Democracy. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo A. 2009 Democracy, Agency, and the State. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Oxhorn, Philip 2011 Sustaining Civil Society: Economic Change, Democracy, and the Social Construction of Citizenship in Latin America. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Panfichi, Aldo, and Alvarado, Mariana 2010Desconfianza y control: Organizaciones no gubernamentales y política en el Perú.” In Usos, abusos y desafíos de la sociedad civil en América Latina, edited by Sorj, Bernardo, 153208. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI.Google Scholar
Paredes, Maritza 2011 “Indigenous Politics and the Legacy of the Left.” In Fractured Politics: Peruvian Democracy Past and Present, edited by John Crabtree, 129-158. Institute for the Study of the Americas.Google Scholar
PCM (Presidencia del Consejo de Ministros and Oficina Nacional de Diálogo y Sostenibilidad) 2013 “Mesas de diálogo, mesas de desarrollo y conflictos sociales en el Perú.” Willaqniki, no. 5.Google Scholar
Rio Blanco Copper 2008Resumen ejecutivo del EIA semidetallado.” Lima.Google Scholar
Scherer, Andreas Georg, and Palazzo, Guido 2011The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and Its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy.” Journal of Management Studies 48 (4): 899931.Google Scholar
Schilling-Vacaflor, Almut 2013Prior Consultations in Plurinational Bolivia: Democracy, Rights and Real Life Experiences.” Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies 8 (2): 202220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schilling-Vacaflor, Almut, and Flemmer, Ricarda 2013Why Is Prior Consultation Not Yet an Effective Tool for Conflict Resolution? The Case of Peru.” GIGA Working Paper, no. 220. Hamburg: German Institute of Global Studies.Google Scholar
Soule, Sarah A. 2009 Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Starn, Orin 1992I Dreamed of Foxes and Hawks: Reflections on Peasant Protest, New Social Movements, and the Rondas Campesinas of Northern Peru.” In The Making of Social Movements in Latin America: Identity, Strategy and Democracy, edited by Escobar, Arturo and Alvarez, Sonia E., 89111. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Stavenhagen, Rodolfo 2001Social Dimensions: Ethnicity.” In Democracy in Latin America: (Re)constructing Political Society, edited by Garretón, Manuel Antonio and Newman, Edward, 161187. New York: United Nations University Press.Google Scholar
Valderrama, Ricardo, and Escalante, Carmen 1992 Nosotros los humanos. Cuzco: Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos Bartolomé de Las Casas.Google Scholar
Wise, Carol 2002 Reinventing the State: Economic Strategy and Institutional Change in Peru. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
World Bank 2005Wealth and Sustainability: The Environmental and Social Dimensions of the Mining Sector in Peru.” Working Paper no. 33545, vol. 2. New York: World Bank.Google Scholar
Xstrata Copper 2010 Estudio de impacto ambiental Proyecto Minero Las Bambas: resumen ejecutivo. Informe no. 089-4152085, May. http://gestion2.e3.pe/doc/0/0/l/l/3/113512.pdf.Google Scholar
Yashar, Deborah 2005 Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Rise of Indigenous Movements and the Post-liberal Challenge. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar