Abstract
This chapter identifies a gap in the literature between the theoretical and philosophical motivations of corporate community development (CCD) and their practical applications. In recent years corporate community relations (CCR) has undergone a substantial change, moving from simply considering the fundamental ethical requirements of corporations, towards seeking to establish a role for corporations in contributing to community development. This change has led to a polarising debate, with proponents supporting the potential for corporations genuinely to contribute to a community and opponents perceiving the move as little more than a public relations exercise. This chapter suggests one catalyst for this debate may be the lack of a solid theoretical and philosophical foundation underpinning and guiding the development actions of corporations. While the rhetoric of human rights is often utilised as motivation for CCD the adequacy of this as a development framework is questioned. Consequently, this chapter explores the limitations of human rights as a development framework and proposes the capability approach as a more appropriate theoretical and philosophical framework to underpin the development aspirations of mining companies.
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- 1.
In this chapter, CCR is used in the broadest sense to describe the relations between corporations and the community. This encompasses the various understandings of corporate social responsibility (CSR), as well as alternatives to CSR, such as sustainable development, community engagement and development partnerships, among others. Whereas CSR is often used as a broad sense equivalent to CCR, it also has a more tightly defined meaning, as well as being associated with international standard ISO 26000 (International Organization for Standardization 2010). Therefore the term CCR is used to avoid confusion between the formal understanding of CSR and the more general concept.
- 2.
In this chapter, CCD is used to describe the social contributions a corporation makes to the community in which it operates. Whereas CCR represents the broad, overarching idea of corporate community interactions, CCD specifically reflects the changing focus of CCR to a greater emphasis on community development activities.
- 3.
The state-centric nature of human rights is embodied in the preamble and early chapters of the United Nations Charter.
Abbreviations
- CCD:
-
Corporate community development
- CCR:
-
Corporate community relations
- CSR:
-
Corporate social responsibility
- ICMM:
-
International Council on Mining and Metals
- ISO:
-
International Standardization Organization
- MNC:
-
Multinational corporation
- NGO:
-
Non-government organisation
- OHCHR:
-
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
- TNC:
-
Transnational corporation
- UDHR:
-
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- UN:
-
United Nations
- UNCTAD:
-
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
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Tiller, E. (2017). Mining and Human Rights. In: O’Callaghan, T., Graetz, G. (eds) Mining in the Asia-Pacific. The Political Economy of the Asia Pacific. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61395-6_7
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