Transnational corporate influence and local politics: how mining companies intervene in neighbouring communities

Abstract

AbstractThis paper analyses how transnational mining companies influence decision-making processes and public policies in communities adjacent to industrial gold mines. Most social science research on mining focuses on the emergence and dynamics of social conflicts over mining and overlooks the political influence mining companies exert by implementing development programmes to gain social acceptance. This paper fills this gap and develops a refined understanding of the multiple layers of political influence of companies in mining areas. It finds that mining companies spatialise corporate interests, contribute to an informalisation of political decision-making, assume quasi-governmental functions and, in this way, intensify the privatisation of local politics. This paper draws on approaches from critical governance research, critical geography and participation theory. It analyses corporate influence by distinguishing between socio-spatial, political-institutional and political-developmental forms of influence that companies use to create social acceptance for their particular mining project. Empirically, this paper is based on a comparative case study of corporate influence in communities near industrial gold mines in the Argentine north-west and southern Patagonia. For conflict research, the article offers a novel framework for shedding light on the workings of corporate micropolitics in mining areas beyond manifest conflicts. This contribution illustrates that mining companies have the capacity to mould political institutions and public policies by implementing development programmes that are in fact designed to serve corporate purposes.