Extractive CSR Strategies, Conflict, and Governance: Comparing Two Mines in Peru
Abstract:
In this paper, we argue that corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies can shape political contexts to mediate or exacerbate the resource curse. Using a relational pragmatic approach—one that recognizes actors are dynamic and focuses on the interactions that shape how they see their interests – we develop expectations about the difference between transformational and transactional CSR strategies. We demonstrate the usefulness of this distinction through the examination of two mines in Peru. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in 2017 and 2018 as well as secondary research, we show how one mine’s transformational strategy connected the company to common, or public, concerns in ways that rearticulated politics to dampen curse dynamics. The other mine’s transactional strategy narrowed its local engagement in ways that reduced its influence and played into curse dynamics. This research illustrates both the usefulness of pragmatic approaches for integrating CSR into governance expectations and the way in which CSR strategies can play into resource curse mitigation.