Public–Private Inquiries: Institutional Intermediaries and the Transparency Nexus in Global Resource Development

Abstract

Privately commissioned public inquiries in extractive industries are an enormously rich source of data for scholars of global environmental politics. This untapped arena comprises a series of unconventional inquiries in response to contentious socioenvironmental events and incidents, whereby large resource companies commission studies, relinquish control over the process, and publicly release findings. These inquiries are an episodic but persistent feature of the resource governance landscape in the global mining industry—one of the world’s most contentious, environmentally disruptive, and influential sectors. We argue that there is a certain independence or autonomy associated with these inquiries, justifying their analytical separation from internal corporate governance. Above all, these inquiries provide opportunities for scholars of global environmental politics to consolidate their activist roots and connect local realities to global debates. We offer a set of preliminary of research questions and describe points of access for future research.

Corporate social irresponsibility, hostile organisations and global resource extraction

“…Extractives companies have the added challenge of holding assets that are frequently in remote, frontier locations where some measure of company support is needed to get to the field site. Recent research shows that companies have some appetite for investigating, documenting, and reporting on otherwise sensitive matters, once the issue has already become public in some fashion (Kemp & Owen, 2021). Under these conditions, the combined action of investigating and reporting on impacts and harm is constructed as evidence of a company's commitment to CSR principles.…”