Life in the Time of Oil

Life in the Time of Oil PDF Author: Lori Leonard
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253019877
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
“[A] tale of imperial hubris, rough and tumble politics, and the duplicity of what passes as corporate social responsibility . . . important and compelling.” —Michael Watts, University of California, Berkeley Life in the Time of Oil examines the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project—a partnership between global oil companies, the World Bank, and the Chadian government that was an ambitious scheme to reduce poverty in one of the poorest countries on the African continent. Key to the project was the development of a marginal set of oilfields that had only recently attracted the interest of global oil companies who were pressed to expand operations in the context of declining reserves. Drawing on more than a decade of work in Chad, Lori Leonard shows how environmental standards, grievance mechanisms, community consultation sessions, and other model policies smoothed the way for oil production, but ultimately contributed to the unraveling of the project. Leonard offers a nuanced account of the effects of the project on everyday life and the local ecology of the oilfield region as she explores the resulting tangle of ethics, expectations, and effects of oil as development.

Working with the Grain

Working with the Grain PDF Author: Brian Levy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199363803
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
The development discourse has long been dominated by best practices prescriptions for reform, but these are not a useful way of responding to the governance ambiguities of the early 21st century. Working with the Grain draws on both innovative scholarship and Brian Levy's quarter century of experience at the World Bank to lay out an alternative-a practical, analytically grounded, "with-the-grain" approach to reducing poverty and addressing weaknesses in governance. Best practice prescriptions confuse the goals of development with the journey of getting from here to there. A strong rule of law, capable and accountable governments, and a flexible, level playing field business environment are indeed desirable end points. But the ability to describe well-governed states does not conjure them into existence. If the only available actions are all or nothing, then efforts at change will almost certainly fall short, leading to disillusion and despair. By contrast, this book takes as its point of departure the realities of a country's economy, polity and society, and directs attention towards the challenges of initiating and sustaining forward development momentum. The book: -- distinguishes among four broad groups of countries, according to whether polities are dominant or competitive, and whether institutions are personalized or impersonal -- identifies alternative options for governance and policy reform-top down options which endeavor to strengthen formal institutions, and options supporting the emergence of "islands of effectiveness" -- explores how to identify entry points for change where there is a good fit between divergent country contexts and alternative options for reform. Sometimes the binding constraint to forward movement can be institutional, making governance reform the priority; at other times, the priority can better be on inclusive growth. Taking the decade-or-so time horizon of practitioners, the aim is to nudge things along-seeking gains that initially may seem quite modest but sometimes can give rise to a cascading sequence of change for the better.

Spatial Practices

Spatial Practices PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004367012
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
The edited collection Spatial Practices: Territory, Border and Infrastructure in Africa presents research findings from the German Research Council’s Priority Programme 1448 “Adaptation and Change in Africa” (2011-2018). At the heart of the volume are important new spatial practices that have emerged after the end of the Cold War in the fields of conflict, climate change, migration and urban development, to name but a few, and their ordering effects with regard to social relations. These findings bear particular relevance for the co-production of territorialities and sovereignties, for borders and migrations, as well as infrastructures and orders. Contributors are: Sabine Baumgart, Andrea Behrends, Marc Boeckler, Martin Doevenspeck, Ulf Engel, Claudia Gebauer, Karsten Giese, Katharina Heitz Tokpa, Shahadat Hossain, Anna Hüncke, Gabriel Klaeger, Kelly Si Miao Liang, Andreas Mehler, Felix Müller, Detlef Müller-Mahn, Wolfgang Scholz, Sophie Schramm, Jannik Schritt, Michael Stasik, Florian Weisser, Julia Willers, and Franzisca Zanker.

Chad

Chad PDF Author: Hans Eriksson
Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute
ISBN: 9789171065490
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
Also issued online.

The Anthropology of Africa: Challenges for the 21st Century

The Anthropology of Africa: Challenges for the 21st Century PDF Author: Nkwi, Paul Nchoji
Publisher: Langaa RPCIG
ISBN: 9956792799
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 656

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Book Description
In 1999 (August 30 - September 2) the Pan African Anthropological Association (PAAA) marked the 10th anniversary of its creation by holding its 9th Annual Conference in Yaounde, Cameroon - the city and country of its birth. The conference, themed "The Anthropology of Africa: Challenges for the 21st Century", was attended by some seventy participants, mostly African. Among the international participants was Dr Sydel Silverman, President of the Wenner Gren Foundation at the time - a long term partner of the PAAA; she was present at the inaugural conference in 1988. The conference proceedings were initially published in 2000 with very limited circulation. Given the continued relevance of the papers presented, and in view of the call by the President of the PAAA for African anthropologists to reunite anthropological theory and practice in the teaching programmes of African universities, the PAAA is pleased to republish the proceedings of its landmark 9th Annual Conference. The book consists of forty three divided into eight parts, namely: i) teaching anthropology in the decades ahead; ii) Health Challenges: HIV/AIDS Anthropological Perspectives; iii) NGOS: Use and Misuse of Anthropology; iv) Anthropological Focus on Environment; v) Some Applied Issues in Anthropology; vi) The African Family in Crisis; vii) Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflicts; and viii) Population issues and anthropology: Fertility Crisis. Paul Nkwi concludes his introduction to the volume with these words: "The Anthropology of Africa will remain for a long time, fundamentally applied if it is to meet the challenges of the 21st Century."

Global Environmental Health in the 21st Century

Global Environmental Health in the 21st Century PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309103800
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
Biological threats like SARS and natural disasters like the tsunami in Indonesia have devastated entire regions, and quickly exhausted budgetary resources. As the field of environmental health continues to evolve, scientists and others must focus on gaining a better understanding of the links between human health and various environmental factors, and on creating new paradigms and partnerships needed to address these complex environmental health challenges facing society. Global Environmental Health in the 21st Century: From Governmental Regulations to Corporate Social Responsibility: Workshop Summary discusses the role of industry in environmental health, examines programs designed to improve the overall state of environmental health, and explores how governmental and corporate entities can collaborate to manage this industry. Stakeholders in both the public and private sectors are looking for viable solutions as the complexity of societal problems and risks associated with management and varying regulatory standards continue to increase. Global Environmental Health in the 21st Century draws critical links and provides insight into the current shape of global environmental health. The book recommends expanding environmental management systems (EMS) to encompass a more extensive global network. It also provides a complete assessment of the benefits and costs resulting from implementation of various environmental management systems.

Research Handbook on Environment and Investment Law

Research Handbook on Environment and Investment Law PDF Author: Kate Miles
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1784714631
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 565

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Book Description
The Research Handbook on Environment and Investment Law examines one of the most dynamic areas of international law: the interaction between international investment law and environmental law and policy. The Research Handbook takes a thematic approach, analysing key issues in the environment–investment nexus, such as freshwater resources, climate, biodiversity, biotechnology and sustainable development. It also includes sections which explore regional experiences and address practice and procedure, and offers innovative approaches and critical perspectives, including the interface between foreign investment and the environment with human rights, gender, indigenous peoples, and economics.

Commodity Politics

Commodity Politics PDF Author: Adam Sneyd
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0228010195
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Responsibility is political. As the international community has called for more responsible environmental, social, and governance performance, the politics of commodities has become more fraught. Commodity Politics cuts through the new rhetoric of responsibility and presents innovative research from Cameroon to provide a better understanding of the political complexity surrounding commodity production and trade in the twenty-first century. Assessing the perspectives of businesses, international organizations, governments, and civil society groups, the authors offer insights gleaned from years of field research in a commodity-dependent country. Commodity Politics presents case studies of sugar, palm oil, cocoa, and the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project. These cases uncover a problematic politics that is much broader than the implications of corporate social responsibility codes for people and the planet, delivering solid rationales for policy-makers and commodity stakeholders to think more deeply about investor-driven approaches to improving environmental, social, and governance conduct. This book trains students and scholars to better recognize political intricacies and consequential flash points. Immersing its readers in timely debates over the meaning and intent of responsibility, Commodity Politics breaks new ground in the political analysis of development.

Private Empire

Private Empire PDF Author: Steve Coll
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143123548
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 705

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Book Description
“ExxonMobil has met its match in Coll, an elegant writer and dogged reporter . . . extraordinary . . . monumental.” —The Washington Post “Fascinating . . . Private Empire is a book meticulously prepared as if for trial . . . a compelling and elucidatory work.” —Bloomberg From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of Ghost Wars and The Achilles Trap, an extraordinary exposé of Big Oil. Includes a profile of current Secretary of State and former chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson In this, the first hard-hitting examination of ExxonMobil—the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States—Steve Coll reveals the true extent of its power. Private Empire pulls back the curtain, tracking the corporation’s recent history and its central role on the world stage, beginning with the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 and leading to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The action spans the globe—featuring kidnapping cases, civil wars, and high-stakes struggles at the Kremlin—and the narrative is driven by larger-than-life characters, including corporate legend Lee “Iron Ass” Raymond, ExxonMobil’s chief executive until 2005, and current chairman and chief executive Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump's nomination for Secretary of State. A penetrating, news-breaking study, Private Empire is a defining portrait of Big Oil in American politics and foreign policy.

Oil to Cash

Oil to Cash PDF Author: Todd Moss
Publisher: CGD Books
ISBN: 1933286695
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Oil to Cash explores one option to help countries with new oil revenue avoid the so-called resource curse: just give the money directly to citizens. A universal, transparent, and regular cash transfer would not only provide a concrete benefit to regular people, but would also create powerful incentives for citizens to hold their government accountable. Oil to Cash details how and where this idea could work and how policymakers can learn from the experiences with cash transfers in places like Mexico, Mongolia, and Alaska.