Cécile Renouard

CSR and inequality in the Niger Delta (Nigeria)

Purpose – The international awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues and the socio‐political context of emerging countries are increasing the pressure on businesses, including multinational corporations, to take another look at their societal role. In a context of state failure (immature institutions), paying taxes can guarantee neither the peaceful management of company operations nor the sustainable development of local communities. Moreover, multinationals have experienced that making resources and opportunities available to local communities is not enough. The Niger Delta in Nigeria is, in this regard, a textbook case that demonstrates the challenge of achieving sustainable development in the context of acute inequalities. This paper seeks to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on fieldwork – quantitative and qualitative surveys – carried out in Nigeria for the past seven years, the paper builds on initiatives and approaches undertaken by Total, Agip and NPDC/Sh...

Relational Capability: A Multidimensional Approach

This paper explores some of the dimensions related to poverty and exclusion, by defining a Relational Capability Index (RCI) which focuses on the quality of relationships among people and on their level of relational empowerment. This index is rooted in a relational anthropology; it insists on the quality of the social fabric and of interpersonal relations as a key aspect of human development. As a multidimensional index, the RCI includes integration into networks, private relations and civic commitments. We provide an axiomatization of a family of multidimensional indexes. This axiomatic viewpoint fills the gap between theories of justice and poverty measurements. By means of illustration, we apply three different versions of the RCI, which are elements of this family, to the measurement of the impact of oil companies on local communities in the Niger Delta (Nigeria) and to national surveys (Afrobarometer).

Crisis and relief in the Niger Delta (2012–13): assessment of the effects of a flood on relational capabilities

Abstract In September 2012, the Niger Delta (Nigeria) experienced a severe flood. By conducting a differences-in-differences estimation (as well as qualitative interviews), this paper studies the effects of the flood and of relief aid provided by an oil company on relational capability, a concept which covers bonding, bridging, and linking aspects of social capital (SC). We find that the flood increased bonding SC, measured as trust in the community, but reduced bridging SC, measured as participation together with unknown people in common-interest projects. The aid distributed to some people, on the other hand, was associated with higher bridging SC. The aid was not distributed according to flood damages but mostly according to social status. Our findings emphasize how a disaster can affect the repartition of bonding and bridging SC in the short term. They also highlight the need to build social cohesion in vulnerable communities from a longer-term and institutional perspective.

Éthique des frontières et justice des communs

La these defendue est celle d’un besoin renforce d’Etat-patrie au service des communs locaux et mondiaux. Dans un premier temps, les frontieres sont envisagees comme des espaces, des dynamiques de partage pour un monde commun, ce qui implique de revisiter les comprehensions des criteres de justice a l’interieur d’une societe politique fermee, pour les ouvrir en permanence vers les marges, pour permettre a chacun de se sentir chez soi dans notre demeure commune. Une telle perspective invite a penser, dans un deuxieme temps, les frontieres au sens des engagements en commun, enracines dans des limites/bornes (notamment territoriales) ; il s’agit bien de retrouver le sens du lien a une terre, a une patrie, par une reappropriation collective, citoyenne, des frontieres en tant que garde-fous du bien commun.

Corporate responsibility toward social transformation. The case of a waste picker empowerment project in Mexico

This paper builds on a case study of a project carried out with waste pickers in Mexico to discuss the notion of empowerment and its transposition to the private sector in corporate social responsibility projects. A difference-indifference analysis provides evidence that the main levers of empowerment activated by this project are not economic but socio-political, which stresses the political responsibility of multinational corporations.

Amour et justice dans la vie économique: De l'accompagnement des pratiques à la critique sociale

Demander a la theologie comment elle peut accompagner les sujets dans leur activite professionnelle en entreprise, c’est aussi chercher en quoi elle peut interroger la justice des institutions economiques et financieres en faisant place a la critique sociale. L’article fait l’hypothese qu’etudier la relation entre amour et justice dans l’entreprise offre de bons jalons pour une telle reflexion. Il presente d’abord cette relation au niveau individuel : l’accompagnement des sujets en vue d’une unification personnelle et d’un engagement professionnel fecond souleve le double enjeu de la justesse de la relation a l’entreprise et de l’ouverture a une logique du don et de la gratuite, de l’amour, a l’interieur de la sphere economique. Cette interrogation, relayee au niveau collectif et institutionnel, invite a regarder comment l’entreprise comme organisation peut mettre en œuvre une demarche a la fois ethique et supra-ethique. Dans un troisieme temps, sont degagees les implications de cette demarche pour une approche ethique et theologique visant la defaite des « structures de peche » et la realisation de ce que nous nommons la « nouvelle economie du Royaume ».