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Gold and godfathers: Local content, politics, and capitalism in extractive industries

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  • Geenen, Sara

Abstract

By zooming in on the concept of ‘local content’, this article speaks to the debate on extractive industries and development. It challenges two fundamental assumptions of the mainstream local content literature: that production linkages will develop if an enabling environment is created, and that local content is beneficial for local people. Based on almost 600 interviews and focus groups in four mining concessions in Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) it focuses on how local content policies are translated into concrete practices – more particularly around the granting of contracts and employment. In doing so it unravels the political dimensions of local content policies and their structural embeddedness in large-scale extractivist projects. It is argued that local content policies are implemented in complex political arenas, where the power holders use them as political instruments to enhance profit accumulation and control rents. Moreover they are embedded in the structural dynamics that permeate large-scale extractivist projects, producing (new) patterns of exclusion.

Suggested Citation

  • Geenen, Sara, 2019. "Gold and godfathers: Local content, politics, and capitalism in extractive industries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:123:y:2019:i:c:21
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.06.028
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    1. Weldegiorgis, Fitsum S. & Dietsche, Evelyn & Franks, Daniel M., 2021. "Building mining's economic linkages: A critical review of local content policy theory," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Grant, J. Andrew & Wilhelm, Cindy, 2022. "A flash in the pan? Agential constructivist perspectives on local content, governance, and the large-scale mining–artisanal and small-scale mining interface in West Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Sara Geenen & Mollie Gleiberman, 2023. "Superfluous Jobs in Extractive Industries: The Usefulness/Uselessness of Job Creation after Dispossession," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(2), pages 394-411, April.
    4. Wilhelm, Cindy & Maconachie, Roy, 2021. "Exploring local content in Guinea's bauxite sector: Obstacles, opportunities and future trajectories," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

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