The Political Possibilities of CSR: Mining Company-Community Conflict in Peru

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which corporate social responsibility (CSR) is used by mining companies in Peru to minimize conflict between themselves and communities. It assesses the use of CSR at both the community and national levels, and concludes that there are important limitations to a reliance on the privatized management of social conflict. Most importantly, a reliance on corporations to manage conflict in which they themselves take part inherently limits the outcomes of this conflict for the communities to those which do not threaten the business interests of the companies. This paper further argues that the political organization of communities and the involvement of external actors in the conflict has an effect on the type of CSR policies enacted by the company. Thus, communities who are better organized, especially with the help of external actors, may achieve more favourable results from CSR-led negotiations with companies.