Community and Government Effects on Mining CSR in Bolivia: The Case of Apex and Empresa Huanuni

Abstract

In a context of poverty, where communities are characterized by low capacity and desperation for sources of income and where government social services and regulatory capacity is largely absent or of low quality, what is the possibility that mining operations and accompanying Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs will make meaningful contributions to sustainable development? While CSR is often put forward to help alleviate poverty and close governance gaps, it is also challenged by these very same characteristics and dynamics that are so often present where mineral extraction takes place.