Community Futures, Legal Architecture : Foundations for Indigenous Peoples in the Global Mining Boom

How are indigenous and local people faring in their dealings with mining and related industries in the first part of the 21 st century? The unifying experience in all the resource-rich states covered in the book is the social and economic disadvantage experienced by indigenous peoples and local communities, paradoxically surrounded by wealth-producing projects. Another critical commonality is the role of law. Where the imposition of statutory regulation is likely to result in conflict with local people, some large modern corporations have shown a preference for alternatives to repressive measures and expensive litigation. Ensuring that local people benefit economically is now a core goal for those companies that seek a social licence to operate to secure these resources. There is almost universal agreement that the best use of the financial and other benefits that flow to indigenous and local people from these projects is investment in the economic participation, education and health of present generations and accumulation of wealth for future generations. There is much hanging on the success of these strategies: it is often asserted that they will result in dramatic improvements in the status of indigenous and local communities. What happens in practice is fascinating, as the contributors to this book explain in case studies and analysis of legal and economic problems and solutions. The Resource Curse Compared : Australian Aboriginal Participation In The Resource Extraction Industry And Distribution Of Impacts / Marcia Langton And Odette Mazel -- Curse Or Opportunity? Mineral Revenues, Rent Seeking And Development In Aboriginal Australia / Ciaran O'faircheallaigh -- Measuring Indigenous Outcomes From Mining Agreements In Australia : The Role Of Applied Demography / John Taylor -- Papua New Guinea : Conflicts, Customary Landholding And Resource Exploitation / George Yapao, Lee Godden And Steven Pettigrove -- Mining Companies As Agents For Social Development : The Case For More Effectual Corporate-community Investments / Ana Maria Esteves -- Agreements, Taxation And Natural Wealth Accounts : Distribution, Preservation And Economic Development -- Legal Forms And Their Implications For Long-term Relationships And Economic, Cultural And Social Empowerment : Structuring Agreements In Australia / Maureen Tehan And Lee Godden. Five Principles For Managing Timor-leste's Natural Resource Revenue Wisely / Jen Drysdale -- The Development Forum In Papua New Guinea : Evaluating Outcomes For Local Communities / Colin Filer -- Tax Law And Policy For Indigenous Economic Development In Australia / Miranda Stewart -- Native Title Agreements, Taxation And Economic Development In Australia / Lisa Strelein -- The Income Tax Exempt Charitable Structure As A Vehicle For Holding Australian Native Title Interests : Some Lessons From New Zealand / Fiona Martin -- Turning A Benefit Agreement Into Practical Development : A Case Study Of A Papua New Guinea Development Foundation / Tim Offor And Barbara Sharp -- From Paternalism To Partnership : The Good Neighbour Agreement And The Argyle Diamond Mine Indigenous Land Use Agreement In Western Australia / Kim Doohan, Marcia Langton And Odette Mazel. Engaging Communities In Resource Development Initiatives In Timor-leste / Demetrio Do Amaral De Carvalho And Lisa Palmer -- To Be Destitute Or To Benefit : Corporate Social Responsibility And Mining In South Africa / Henk Kloppers And Willemien Du Plessis. Edited By Marcia Langton And Judy Longbottom. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "How are indigenous and local people faring in their dealings with mining and related industries in the first part of the 21st century? The unifying experience in all the resource-rich states covered in the book is the social and economic disadvantage experienced by indigenous peoples and local communities, paradoxically surrounded by wealth-producing projects. Another critical commonality is the role of law. Where the imposition of statutory regulation is likely to result in conflict with local people, some large modern corporations have shown a preference for alternatives to repressive measures and expensive litigation. Ensuring that local people benefit economically is now a core goal for those companies that seek a social licence to operate to secure these resources. There is almost universal agreement that the best use of the financial and other benefits that flow to indigenous and local people from these projects is investment in the economic participation, education and health of present generations and accumulation of wealth for future generations. There is much hanging on the success of these strategies: it is often asserted that they will result in dramatic improvements in the status of indigenous and local communities. What happens in practice is fascinating, as the contributors to this book explain in case studies and analysis of legal and economic problems and solutions"--Provided by publisher International Relations, Meaning and Mimesis is an innovative assessment of the uses of theory in making sense of international politics, opening up new pathways to thinking about the basics of the study area. Insights drawn from an interdisciplinary corpus of critical scholarship are synthesized and brought to bear on key concepts such as sovereignty, the state, peace, law, justice, ethics, and supranationality. The mainstream characteristically dismisses the narrativity that accompanies these concepts as derivative, tending to treat meaning attributable to them as static. The work shows how problematic this disdain of mimesis (exchange, reproduction, imitation) is and how this mindset effectively incapacitates conventional theorizing in both predicting phenomena and providing a normative vision. Integrating the study of international politics into debates in the wider academia over meaning and mimesis, this ambitious work is fluent and accessible at the same time, with exceptional lucidity in presenting difficult philosophical notions.A series of radical positions advanced in the book on theory and methodology not only address and call to account the mainstream imagination on international politics but also outline the implications of this critique for a host of specific issue areas, including peace research, normative theories, international law, and European studies.