Why be poor when we can be rich? Constructing responsible mining in El Pangui, Ecuador

Ximena S. Warnaars

Resources Policy, 2012, vol. 37, issue 2, 223-232

Abstract: Mining companies operating in Latin America are giving Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) more attention than before, in part because of the rise in mining-related conflicts and criticism about the industry's social and environmental impacts. Companies propose that CSR could play an important role in mitigating conflict or lessening its risk. This article argues that the opposite may also be the case. As the mining conflict in El Pangui, Southeast Ecuador transforms social territorial dynamics, CSR also has a function in those transformations by contributing to the polarisation of conflict. The paper provides a brief ethnographic account of the ongoing conflict in El Pangui, and critically examines the moves made by the company, Corriente Resources Inc., to illustrate how CSR discourses and programmes may play an adverse role in social conflict.

Keywords: Ecuador; Corporate social responsibility; Mining conflict; Shuar; Social movement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420711000596
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:37:y:2012:i:2:p:223-232

DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2011.10.001

Access Statistics for this article

Resources Policy is currently edited by R. G. Eggert

More articles in Resources Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().