Abstract
Background: Economists and political scientists have long recognised four kinds of goods: private, public, common-pool and club, the assumption being that category membership is determined by the physical properties of the goods themselves. But in the theory of plural rationality—the approach taken in this chapter—where specific goods end up is, to the extent that that is not determined by their physical properties, the outcome of a never-ending struggle between four kinds of social solidarity: individualism (which works towards privatisation), hierarchy (which favours the creation of public goods), egalitarianism (which is supported by common-pool goods) and fatalism (whose upholders enable club goods by the ease with which they can be excluded). Methodology: The study uses historical surveys and case-studies of different contexts where natural resource governance has upset harmonious relationship between different stakeholders. Application/Relevance to systems analysis: Our argument is that policy and governance, particularly in Africa, have allowed (indeed encouraged) individualism and hierarchy to dominate, thereby drowning out the other two institutional “voices”. The result, as we show by way of a continent-wide historical survey and three case-studies—REDD+ in the Democratic Republic of Congo, acid mine drainage in South Africa and oil extraction in Nigeria—has been “crap” governance (in contrast to good governance, which requires that all four voices are both heard and responded to by the others). Put another way, the “resource curse” is not the inevitable consequence of a country being heavily reliant on extractive industries; it stems from insufficient “clumsiness”: exemplified, as Kofi Annan has recently pointed out, by just two solidarities—multinational companies (individualism) and political leaders (hierarchy)—colluding to swindle the citizens out of their just rewards from their natural resources. Policy implications: Of policy implication, is the bringing-in of the two currently excluded voices, and we conclude by showing how, in relation to our case-studies, this can be achieved. Conclusion: Analyses of resource-related conflicts, especially in Africa, have often ignored the voices of the excluded social solidarities. Analysing this problem through a systems perspective will allow the incorporation of all voices as a way of constructing a more harmonious system in natural resource governance.
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Notes
- 1.
Enclosure (sometimes spelt inclosure) was the process by which areas of customarily open and commonly-owned land were fenced in and “privatized”, usually by large land-owners and often in the face of stiff resistance by the commoners. Though it went on for centuries, it reached its peak in the later years of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth. The “battle of Otmoor”—a 4000 acre common in North Oxfordshire—was perhaps the most celebrated instance, with commoners being arrested by the yeomanry (part-time military) and transported in carts to Oxford Jail. Even today, some 4% of England and Wales is common land (Stamp and Hoskins 1963).
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
Briefly, these are: nature can be counted on to bounce back from any insult (individualism), is stable within limits that can be identified by experts (hierarchy), everywhere fragile (egalitarianism) and operating without rhyme or reason (fatalism). And man is everywhere self-seeking (individualism), flawed but redeemable by firm, long-lasting and nurturing institutions (hierarchy), inherently caring-and-sharing (egalitarianism) and fickle and untrustworthy (fatalism). In consequence, hierarchical actors are intent on managing the globe, individualist actors on commoditizing it, egalitarian actors on tabooing it and fatalist actors on coping with it. And, since each of these intentions is incompatible with the others, the contested terrain is here to stay! For a more detailed treatment see Thompson et al. (1990).
- 5.
Or more likely, given the cosy hierarchist/individualist alliance with its consequent exclusion of the egalitarian voice, a club good, with the hierarchical actors forgetting all about their duty to act as “trustees” and rooting after rent-seeking instead, and their individualist cronies doing well even when others (especially those commoners who find themselves squeezed out into fatalism) no longer benefit. Kleptocracy, in less mealy-mouthed words.
- 6.
In South Africa, the post-Apartheid government through its Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002 (MPRDA) has allowed some form community participation through shareholding in the mining companies that operate in their communities. This is permitted where the land upon which mining takes place is a “tribal land” (Mnwana 2014).
- 7.
At the regional level, however, it seems that the dharma is now being restored. The 37th Session of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Council of Ministers, in March 2016, noted that, after years of decline, Nepal‘s forests are now moving strongly in the other direction, and went on to recommend community forestry for all of South Asia (around a quarter of mankind).
- 8.
And even when they have come into existence, they are a failure. A 2009 investigation into France’s Blue Next carbon exchange has revealed that as much as 90% of the trading was fraudulent, costing European tax payers 5 billion Euros over just 18 months (as reported by Jim Armitage, 15 August 2015, The Independent, London).
- 9.
Tsonga speakers living near the Kruger National Park (KNP), Mpumalanga Province, North East of South Africa.
- 10.
The documentary is available at: http://virungamovie.com/blog/details/10824/team-virunga-update-take-action-to-protect-virunga [Accessed 1 March 2015].
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Umejesi, I., Thompson, M., Marcello, M., Vellemu, E. (2018). Extract of Africa: Towards the Equitable and Ecologically Sound Governance of Mining and Drilling. In: Mensah, P., Katerere, D., Hachigonta, S., Roodt, A. (eds) Systems Analysis Approach for Complex Global Challenges. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71486-8_4
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