Event Date: March 15, 2022 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm EDT
Location: online

Presented by CIPS and the International Political Economy Network (IPEN)

IPEN Roundtable Series, 2021-22

Political economy in difficult times: revealing blind spots and reimagining theory and practice

Have the last couple of years of turmoil produced major changes in the global political economy? Have they revealed blind spots in our thinking about it? If so, how should we respond? If not, why not?

These roundtables feature an interactive format in which four experts in the field engage with each other and with the audience as they seek to answer these key questions. Over the course of the year, roundtables will tackle topics including the fate of neoliberalism, the insights of feminist political economy, the return of resource nationalism and the changing nature of money.

Roundtable 3 – Resurgent Resource Nationalism: Comparative Regional Experiences

Recent years have seen a return to resource nationalist policies in the extractive industries in various countries, such as higher royalties for foreign companies, and expanded roles for state-owned enterprises. This event will compare the experiences of different countries and regions, with a focus on the mining sector. Panelists will discuss questions such as: what are the drivers of resource nationalism in different countries? What strategies have governments used to capture benefits from the multinational mining sector? What have been the outcomes of these strategies? What is the future of resource nationalism in the mining sector?

Speakers:

Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt is a Professor at the Australian National University, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, and has over thirty years of work experience on challenges of livelihoods in developing countries. She has researched the length and breadth of social and ecological aspects of resources, in particular, both large, industrial, and informal, artisanal and small-scale mines and quarries, water resource management, and feminization of agriculture in rural communities. Kuntala’s publications in these areas have had impact and influenced younger generations of researchers. Her work has been used by both international and grassroots level development organizations. She has work experience in South Asian countries, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Papua New Guinea and Mongolia. Currently, Kuntala is researching how global coal sector transition can be gender-just, instead of adding the economic, social and political burdens on women in coal reliant communities, with special emphasis on the Global South.

Jewellord Nem Singh is a Senior Lecturer/Assistant Professor in International Development at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, part of Erasmus University Rotterdam. “In 2020, I was awarded the European Research Council Starting Grant (2021-2026) for my research project “Green Industrial Policy in the Age of Rare Metals: Trans-regional Comparison of Growth Strategies in Rare Earths Mining” (GRIP-ARM). In addition, I held two highly prestigious research fellowships, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship Award at the Freie Universitëit Berlin (FUB) in 2017 and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at the University of Tokyo in 2016. My research falls into four main areas of inquiry: (1) political economy of industrial policy and development planning in the global south; (2) politics and governance of natural resources; (3) citizenship and social movements perspectives on democratization; and (4) the developmental consequences of the rise of China.”

Richard Saunders is an Associate Professor at York University, Ontario. “My research and supervision areas involve themes of state-society relations in the Global South in the contemporary period of neoliberal globalization. A recurring theme of my work involves the innovative forms of resistance and ‘compliance’ mounted by social constituencies in the face of pressures associated with neoliberal restructuring. Since the 1990s, my academic and civil society research has explored the changing nature of the Southern state, the rise of non-state social actors in the shaping of policy discourses, and the resulting emergence of alternative policy strategies and governance mechanisms. In this regard, I have worked extensively on African labour movements, new media and democratization, and social justice contestations around public health policy. More recently, I have focused on issues of resource governance, using the lenses of political economy and political sociology. In each of these research areas, my work has sought to both fill critical research gaps in the literature, and provide technical and strategic support to popular constituencies engaged in diverse policy-making arenas.” He is currently the PI on a major research project, “Resource Nationalism in Southern Africa: policy challenges and emerging opportunities”.

Agatha Siwale-Mulenga gained her PhD from the Central European University’s Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations. She is a Research Fellow at the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research (SAIPAR). Dr. Siwale-Mulenga’s research centers around ASM governance and rural development in Zambia, specifically gemstone mining in the Copperbelt and Southern Provinces. She has published on ASM formalisation, mining associations, and female artisanal miners in Resource Policy, The Extractive Industries and Society and the African Journal of Management. Her research focus is on Natural Resource Governance and her doctoral thesis examines institutional change in the resource curse context. Prior to joining CEU she was Head of Research and Analysis at the Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PMRC) – an independent policy think-tank in Zambia where she was engaged in research in the areas of mining policy and state-civil society relations. Agatha has also previously tutored and lectured at the University of Zambia and Northrise University, respectively in Development Studies and related fields. She is currently based in Zambia, and is conducting fieldwork for a major research project, “Resource Nationalism in Southern Africa: policy challenges and emerging opportunities”.

Moderator:

Christopher Huggins is an Associate Professor at the School of International Development and Global Studies University of Ottawa with a focus on the political economy of natural resource management in several Central and Eastern African countries. His current research examines issues around artisanal and small-scale mining in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is a co-coordinator of IPEN.