P1-S5 and Online
This event is part of the International Relations/Political Science Colloquium Series Fall 2021. Deborah Avant will present the paper 'Extractive CSR Strategies, Conflict, and Governance: Comparing Two Mines in Peru' co-authored by Deborah Avant, Devin Finn, and Tricia Olsen. Snacks and beverages will be provided for in-person attendees.
Abstract:
In this paper, we argue that corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies can shape political contexts to mediate or exacerbate the resource curse. Using a relational pragmatic approach—one that recognizes actors are dynamic and focuses on the interactions that shape how they see their interests – we develop expectations about the difference between transformational and transactional CSR strategies. We demonstrate the usefulness of this distinction through the examination of two mines in Peru. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in 2017 and 2018 as well as secondary research, we show how one mine’s transformational strategy connected the company to common, or public, concerns in ways that rearticulated politics to dampen curse dynamics. The other mine’s transactional strategy narrowed its local engagement in ways that reduced its influence and played into curse dynamics. This research illustrates both the usefulness of pragmatic approaches for integrating CSR into governance expectations and the way in which CSR strategies can play into resource curse mitigation.
Biography
Deborah Avant is the Sié Chéou-Kang Chair and Director of the Sié Center for International Security and Diplomacy at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. Her research has focused on civil-military relations, and the roles of non-state actors in controlling violence and generating governance. She is author/editor of Civil Action and the Dynamics of Violence in Conflicts (with Marie Berry, Erica Chenoweth, Rachel Epstein, Cullen Hendrix, Oliver Kaplan, and Timothy Sisk), The New Power Politics: Networks and Transnational Security Governance (with Oliver Westerwinter); Who Governs the Globe? (with Martha Finnemore and Susan Sell); The Market for Force: the Consequences of Privatizing Security; and Political Institutions and Military Change: Lessons From Peripheral Wars, along with articles in such journals as International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, Perspectives on Politics, and Foreign Policy. She was the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Global Security Studies and is President-elect of the International Studies Association.
PLEASE NOTE: Access to indoor public events is limited to attendees with a Swiss or European COVID certificate. In addition, face masks must be worn to all in-person events at the Graduate Institute.
This is a hybrid event. Please register below to attend the event in person.