Theoretically and empirically, this book offers a provocative and rich discussion on the intersection between transnational law and local struggles that emerge in a transnational mining project in the global south. Empirically, by presenting a “highly contextual, specific analysis” (p. 289), Szablowski identifies the benefits and dangers of such intersections by carefully tracing the interaction of the actors involved (i.e., the transnational mining company, the local population, and the World Bank). Szablowski examines the dynamics of legitimation, its connection to regulation, and how it is pursued both inside and outside state structures.
The book is divided into two parts. The first examines the development of transnational legal regimes and their relationship to other forms of law, while the second part delves into the practical concerns of transnational legal ordering in regulating local environments. The first part comprises four chapters. The first addresses how law is internalized into informal legal process and legitimated. The proliferation of transnational law creates particular types of political identities and political engagement. In the second chapter, Szablowski shows how the Peruvian state takes either a prominent or distant role in mediating corporate/community claims. In either case, he exposes the lack of participation by the local population in the process. Further, when the state is distant, the mining company takes a great deal of the responsibility for social mediation, developing a local space of informal legal ordering to deal with local interests. Therefore, the mining company controls and regulates, while community actors find their rights circumscribed with limited possibilities for bargaining.
The third chapter focuses on transnational legal regimes aimed at mining and community conflicts. As globalization opens up possibilities for transnational companies, it also enables the formation of transnational advocacy networks to censor their activities. On the one hand, companies are working with transnational organizations to develop legal standards for global industries called certification institutions. Transnational firms adopt certification institutions to diffuse critics, and to provide legitimacy to the industry. Most certification institutions tend to rely on the firm's discretion to interpret and implement standards, avoiding the language of rights and obligations. World Bank agencies have become certification institutions, enforcing mandatory safeguard policies for the projects they finance. Important to note, these policies provide procedural definitions of “social responsibility.” On the other hand, critics challenge certification institutions, arguing that self-regulation is comparable to no regulation (with the implicit intention to regulate the industry).
Chapter four looks at the World Bank safeguard policy's structure and characteristics to assess its regulatory credibility. Szablowski focuses on one World Bank policy, the Involuntary Resettlement (IR) Policy. He argues that, in spite of its recognition and its importance, it relegates the project-affected population to a marginal position. Important to note, the IR Policy avoids conferring rights of due process on those members of the public involved, claiming that this is a private matter concerning the World Bank and the firm. Its legitimacy is bolstered by the presence of social specialists, who are “experts” in dealing with communities and ultimately speak in place of local actors.
The second part of the book delves into the practical concerns of transnational legal ordering in regulating local environments. Chapter five focuses on the actors. First, peasants (campesinos), as Szablowski shows, retain several networks of reciprocity relations and have flexible management of market and nonmarket rationalities. Thus if needed, they have sociocultural resources available for action in solidarity with common goals. Second, mining enterprises will seek a legal order that allows them to lower costs. When it comes to relations with the community, the mining enterprises, even if they are willing to assume costs to ensure greater legitimacy locally, are uncertain of which costs they should pay. This is further complicated when there are multiple perspectives within the corporation regarding how to deal with the local population.
Turning to the case study, chapters six and seven investigate the Antamina Mining Company (Compañía Minera Antamina, CMA), a zinc-copper mine in the Peruvian Andes, and its relation with the local community. State regulation is absent, so CMA and the community developed “local law.” This law oriented the expectations and shaped the behavior of the parties. When CMA eventually disregarded the local law, it generated confusion and conflicts between the company and the local population. The performance of the World Bank regime regarding the CMA is assessed, particularly its IR Policy. Under the World Bank model, CMA is seen as the link between the World Bank and the affected community. However, when local actors wish to contest policy interpretations, they can use a social specialist to determine whether the company is in compliance with the established standards. Therefore, when CMA legitimacy is in question, a greater presence of the social specialist becomes necessary. This illustrates that the IR Policy couples certification by a qualified expert with the process through which legitimacy is developed locally.
Although the author elaborates on the strengths of the case study and controls for limitations to this approach, he does not spell out how he actually collected the data. But most important, his contribution is to go beyond a state-centered view and to retain a concern for accountability, legitimacy, and justice. As such, this book is relevant not only to sociolegal scholars, but also to development scholars and social scientists involved in the process of mediation.
