Mines, Communities, and States
The Local Politics of Natural Resource Extraction in Africa

Explores the local politics of mining in Africa, explaining when communities benefit, and when conflict and repression occur.

Jessica Steinberg (Author)

9781108701778, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 14 April 2022

294 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.438 kg

When do local communities benefit from natural resource extraction? In some regions of natural resource extraction, firms provide goods and services to local communities, but in others, protest may occur, leading to government regulatory or repressive intervention. Mines, Communities, and States explores these outcomes in Africa, where natural resource extraction is a particularly important source of revenue for states with otherwise limited capacity. Blending a mixture of methodological approaches, including formal modelling, structured case comparison, and quantitative geo-spatial empirical analysis, it argues that local populations are important actors in extractive regions because they have the potential to impose political and economic costs on the state as well as the extractive firm. Jessica Steinberg argues that governments, in turn, must assess the economic benefits of extraction and the value of political support in the region, and make a calculation about how to manage trade-offs that might arise between these alternatives.

1. Introduction
Part I. The Local Politics of Natural Resource Extraction: A Theory: 2. A logic of governance
3. Model: a (more) formal logic
Part II. Local Politics on the Ground: 4. On comparative case analysis
5. Two firms, one country: coal in Tete, Mozambique
6. Two countries, one firm: mining the Copperbelt in Zambia and DRC
7. Comparative implications
Part III. Beyond Mozambique, Zambia and DRC: 8. Generalizing the theory
9. On social mobilization near mines
10. On repression near mines
11. Conclusion: what next?
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Environmental management [RNF], Energy & natural resources law [LNCR], Political economy [KCP], Environmental economics [KCN], Regional government [JPR], Comparative politics [JPB]