Event Date: November 14, 2024 - 11:30am to 1:00pm
Location: FSS 5028, 120 University Private, University of Ottawa

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

Companies have often been portrayed as “deterritorializing actors” that threaten and undermine alternative and subaltern visions of territory promoted by civil society organizations. However, the relationship between civil society, companies and territories is often more complicated than the territorialization/deterritorialization dynamic highlighted in the literature. In response to protest, and to pre-empt disruption, companies may seek to build territory through corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, and reshape them as areas having a mining history and identity. But civil society organizations may also seek to leverage company CSR spending instrumentally and strategically to realize their own vision of community development. Without denying that conflicting visions of territorial development exist among civil society actors, it is also important to recognize that under certain conditions, community actors and companies co-construct territorial communities in ways that institutionalize mining activity. The paper links important literature on the territorial dimension of environmental justice conflicts with a critical understanding of CSR as sociologically and territorially-embedded practices.

The event will be in English.

Speaker:

Paul Haslam is Professor in the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa.  His teaching and research interests span both international development and international political economy. Current research focuses on corporate social responsibility, resource nationalism, and state-firm relations in the mining sector in Latin America.  He has recently published in journals including World Development, Latin American Politics & Society, Review of International Political Economy, and The Extractive Industries and Society.

Chair: 

Jacqueline Best is a Full Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research is at the intersection of international relations, political economy and social theory. Her current research examines the role of exceptionalism, failure, and ignorance in economic policy, tracing their evolution from the early days of neoliberalism to today.