School of Earth and Environment

Sustainability Research (SRI) PhD Projects

From conflict to cooperation: spaces of engagement, resource governance and the extractive industries

Multiple and often conflicting discourses characterise the impacts of natural resource extraction on host communities. On the one hand, the extractive industries have significant social, economic and environmental impacts on the communities and countries in which they operate; on the other, if well governed, the sector can contribute to sustainable local development and poverty reduction. Many communities in the Global North and South have experienced a rollback of the state through neoliberal processes of privatisation and decentralisation. Yet, simultaneously globalisation has driven more local- global interaction and horizontal or hybrid forms of governance.

This project seeks to explore the processes of community-company-government engagement in localities impacted by the extraction of renewable and/or non-renewable resources. Often 'engagement' emerges as a sort of place-based accountability and scalar politics ranging on a spectrum from conflict to cooperation. In exploring this continuum, the project aims to gain insight into how engagement processes within extractive contexts result in distinct governance outcomes. Particularly in the extractive industries, there have been increasing calls for stronger corporate accountability measures that span social, economic, political and environmental issue areas. Previous literature addresses governance gaps at the international, national and industry levels, but pays little attention to how host communities can negotiate with companies to maximise sustainable local development. A variety of questions can be addressed within this theme:

Why has resource led development typically failed to achieve poverty alleviation and development goals in many poor countries?

To what extent can civil society actors fill governance gaps and hold companies and governments to account within extractive contexts?

Why do some communities and not others organise for local resource governance?
How and why do state and nonstate actors collaborate to achieve effective and just resource governance? What factors may block these efforts?

I am happy for projects to pursue studies in the Global North or South. I have ongoing research in Ireland, England, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Brazil and South Africa.

Supporting documents:
If you would like to be considered for research in this area, you will need to provide a full research proposal. This should be no longer than 6 pages, plus referencing. You will need to present the proposal in sections to include an introduction, the aims of the project/research questions, full methodology, and referencing. Referencing should be done in the style of a journal related to this research area.

Funding:
No funding is available for this project. Examples of University funding include:
Home/EU: University Research Scholarship (URS) – full information at http://scholarships.leeds.ac.uk
International: Fully-funded International Research Scholarship (FIRS), and China Scholarship Council (CSC)-Leeds Partnership – full information at http://scholarships.leeds.ac.uk

Note to candidate: You will need to demonstrate that you have/are being consideredfor 3 years offunding to include tuition fees and living costs. Additionally, a bench fee may be charged, to cover exceptional consumables/fieldwork costs neededfor successful completion of the project. Please see the notes on ‘fees and scholarships’ in the main
menu.

Entry requirements/necessary background:
The minimum entry requirement is 2.1 UK BSc (Hons), with a relevant Masters degree.