John R. Owen

Assets, Capitals, and Resources Frameworks for Corporate Community Development in Mining

The community mining space remains contested for a range of complex reasons. This inherently difficult discursive space is made most apparent in the context of international development where mining is often viewed as a potential lever in the effort to lift poorer nations out of poverty. In this article, the authors offer a critical review of community development (CD) approaches that are currently being applied by the mining sector. While the authors acknowledge recent positive developments in this domain, there remains a good deal of scope for improving the internal standing of, and the external influence over, CD practice in mining. Drawing on the contemporary CD literature, the authors assert “assets” as one possible heurism for enhancing this discursive space by highlighting the ways in which community and company representatives may be able to participate more actively in dialogical processes—both between and within company and community—where development discourse is not prefigured or biased against participating parties.

The structure of dialogic practice within developmental work

A critical first step in community development work involves initiating and responding to contact with others. Contemporary approaches rely heavily on the ability of practitioners to communicate effectively with the people with whom they are working. Prior to “facilitating” “good public processes”, or “mobilizing” “common pool” resources, or even “empowering communities” to “do it themselves”, practitioners must first build good local-level relationships. This article examines the various structures of interpersonal communication within community development settings. Given that the objective of that communication is to bring parties together, we focus our attention on the use of dialogue in building a developmental process between individuals. The article provides a framework for understanding the structural make-up of dialogue by exploring the use of dialogue processes within community-level practice settings. In the main section of the article, we draw on two distinct narrative exchanges to demonstrate the structural make-up and critical aspects of dialogue processes.

Karl Polanyi for Historians: An Alternative Economic Narrative

The purpose of this essay is to provide the historian with a generic understanding of the term economy by examining some aspects of the work of the Hungarian “economic historian” Karl Polanyi (1886–1964). It does not seek to explain Polanyis economic ideas to economists nor does it seek to locate his ideas within the discourses of the academic discipline of economics; there is abundant academic literature which carries out those tasks. This essay is intended to help fill a void in the historical understanding, especially the modern historical understanding, of the term economy, and of how the characteristics associated with it are generally understood. Yet, in reality, it is the neoclassical paradigm of economics which is typically and uncritically taken to be the touchstone for understanding the economy. This circumstance is problematic, however, when referring to the economy of societies earlier than the late nineteenth century or of societies whose culture differs radically from that of the advanced capitalist “west.” Polanyis insights may help historians avoid the risk of either distorting or anachronistically misunderstanding the economy of such societies.

Global perspectives on the state of resettlement practice in mining

Abstract This article presents the results of a global study on resettlement practice in the mining industry. We examine how international policy commitments are operationalised by the mining sector and how practitioners from across the institutional spectrum engage with planning and implementation efforts by the industry. Interviews were conducted with 52 senior practitioners from mining companies, consultancies, international finance institutions and international non-government organisations. Results confirm knowledge, resourcing, capacity and coordination gaps among each of the institutions. These findings give additional substance to emerging reports about the urgent need to improve performance in this area of practice. The article concludes with a call for further sector-specific research into mining and resettlement.

‘Listening to the rice grow’: the local–expat interface in Lao-based international NGOs

Generally speaking, NGO studies have focused their attention on the organisational unit and its role in shaping development outcomes. With few exceptions, the analysis of development partnerships, in which NGOs play a crucial role, has largely been confined to examination of ‘donors’ and ‘receivers’ and not the dynamics within organisational settings. This article is concerned with the interface between local and international staff operating within Lao-based international NGOs. The research relied on interviews with local and international staff and sought to examine how staff themselves interpreted the process of ‘localisation’ in the context of their own professional experience.

Extractive Relations : Countervailing Power and the Global Mining Industry

Extractive Relations explores the nature of industrial power and its role in shaping what we understand to be the global mining sector. The authors examine issues at the forefront of contemporary debates: corporate obligations in safeguarding the rights of people displaced by mining, the recognition of community rights and interests in supporting or opposing mining developments, the handling of non-judicial grievances and workability of corporate remedy systems, and the logic of community relations departments in navigating these issues inside and outside of the typical modern mining establishment. The authors develop a unique theoretical approach that highlights the different types and uses of power in these settings. This perspective is supported by the authors’ own sustained engagement with the mining sector over many years, drawing on cases from over twenty countries. The analysis of these issues from both ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the sector is a key point of differentiation. For readers seeking to understand how mining companies interpret and interact with the communities and interests around their operations, this book provides invaluable insight and analysis.

The moral economy of Saint Thomas Aquinas: Agent sovereignty, customary law and market convention

The ethical authority carried in the conventions of fairness and human well-being has been widely adopted under the idea of “moral economy,” forming an eclectic and interdisciplinary debate. Significant, though external to this debate, is a corpus of medieval thought which exhibits a fundamental interest in legitimate market protocols, and the political rights and obligations of agents in relation to the common good of the community. This article asserts the imperative status of a customary basis for understanding not just the analytic version of moral economy but the legacy contained in what might be termed the “the moral economy of Aquinas.”

Book Review: Globalization and Belonging:

reproducing existing power relations. While I admire the scholarly achievements of Doyle’s book, I am wary of too pessimistic a reading of its conclusions. It may be that the success of the Royal Commission in making visible graphic footage of police corruption merely reinforces Doyle’s point about power, but powerful institutions are not uniformly reactionary. Strategic use of ‘media logic’ by watchdog organizations – indeed, ethical investigative reporting by the media themselves – can have progressive as well as liberating outcomes.