A “Networked” Research Agenda

Research on the conjunction of business elites and sustainable development fascinates practitioners and international organizations but faces methodological and data collection challenges within academia. Firstly, studies on corporate sustainability have promptly increased but have been extremely focused on an organizational level of analysis, which inhibits figuring out whether business decisions have an impact at the macro or societal level. Secondly, major policy recommendations on sustainable development point to the creation of networks and partnerships among business elites, governments and civil organizations but it is largely ignored which specific type of network configuration goes along with sustainable development. Thirdly, the literature on sustainable development often considered business elites as homogenous and concentrated, even though conflicting views exist regarding aspects of sustainable development. Finally, the influence of business elites on environmental, social and economic policies has been more supposed than empirically demonstrated. Past research has been unable to overcome these challenges in part due to insufficient data clarifying the full breadth of business elite connections with political and civil organizations nationally and transnationally, and the lack of a combination of analytical tools for analyzing multilevel characteristics and actions. The present paper proposes a research agenda to comprehend the role of business elites in sustainable development. Future studies should use network analysis as leverage, uncover the networks among business and political elites, focus on Latin American economies and regions, bypass case studies and develop cross-national and transnational analysis, and turn to a combination of causal methods

Estado, atores predominantes e coalizões para o desenvolvimento: Brasil e Argentina em perspectiva comparada

This paper aims to analyze the role of government coalitions in the formulation and implementation of a socioeconomic development model. It is a qualitative research that focuses on the extent to which the formation of coalitions to support a developmental platform is efficient in formulating and implementing sustainable public policies in the medium and long term in order to shape a national development agenda. The central hypothesis is that the development process has a direct relationship with the institutional dimension, in particular the role of the State, of government coalitions, of various public institutions (especially those that tend to coordinate interests' between the public and private sectors) and strategic actors profiles in the formulation and implementation of policies. From the interactions established between State, institutions and strategic players different styles or patterns of development are configured. "Developmental coalitions" is defined as the convergent action of different actors involved in any dynamic of growth and development (Tanaka, 2012). The "strategic actor" category includes business, organized labor and public bureaucracy. However, we focus on business and labor vis-à-vis the political field, which represents the space of articulation of interests of the different strategic actors. The methodological approach consists in the evaluation, based on stylized facts, of the turning points of the economic models (neoliberal and post-neoliberal) and the analysis of positions (statements, actions, exclusions) of strategic elites

Greening Capitalism? A Marxist Critique of Carbon Markets

Climate change is increasingly being recognized as a serious threat to dominant modes of social organization, inspiring suggestions that capitalism itself needs to be transformed if we are to ‘decarbonize’ the global economy. Since the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, carbon markets have emerged as the main politico-economic tools in global efforts to address climate change. Newell and Paterson (2010) have recently claimed that the embrace of carbon markets by financial and political elites constitutes a possible first step towards the transformation of current modes of capitalist organization into a new form of greener, more sustainable ‘climate capitalism.’ In this paper, we argue that the institutionalization of carbon markets does not, in fact, represent a move towards the radical transformation of capitalism, but is better understood as the most recent expression of ongoing trends of ecological commodification and expropriation, driving familiar processes of uneven and crisis-prone development. In this paper, we review four critical Marxist concepts: metabolic rift (Foster, 1999), capitalism as world ecology (Moore, 2011a), uneven development and accumulation through dispossession (Harvey, 2003, 2006), and sub-imperialism (Marini, 1972, 1977), developing a framework for a Marxist analysis of carbon markets. Our analysis shows that carbon markets form part of a longer historical development of global capitalism and its relation to nature. Carbon markets, we argue, serve as creative new modes of accumulation, but are unlikely to transform capitalist dynamics in ways that might foster a more sustainable global economy. Our analysis also elucidates, in particular, the role that carbon markets play in exacerbating uneven development within the Global South, as elites in emerging economies leverage carbon market financing to pursue new strategies of sub-imperial expansion. </jats:p

Managing sustainability: the role of multinational corporations in the global south

Multinational corporations and international business practices as well as international investment are considered important elements for the diffusion of new modes of production, namely through a flow of cleaner production and new management practices such as corporate social responsibility (CSR). This view is lacking consistency and is not buttressed on strong empirical evidence. The positive driver of environmental sustainability is probably not international business and trade but strong and good institutions. The focus here is on four limitations: the context of the private firms and corporations, the workings of complex organizations, the technology and the right institutions that buttress the global, national and local contexts, taking as concrete examples some specific cases from the Global South, as Mozambique. The article concludes that these aspects have to be considered and contrasted to the technological and management solutions for sustainability.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inserting extant corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of international oil companies in the Niger Delta Region

In this paper, the author aims to draw on his thesis to discuss extant CSR activities of IOCs in the NDR. The paper presents a compelling insight on the CSR activities of select IOCs in the NDR and how such activities identify in Carroll’s Pyramid of CSR for the purposes of relevance and generalisability. The issue of equitable distribution of oil resources has been very contentious in the NDR within the last couple of decades and its implications can hardly be exaggerated. The paper confirms the salient role of some IOCs in the provision of social welfare packages and the overall development of the region. Furthermore, the paper examines the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) framework, an approach considered as ``best practice’’ model by IOCs in the region. The model combines IOCs’ expertise with local stakeholder intelligence to achieve the desired results. The author presents a summary of the evolution of CSR in the NDR underscoring the significance of localized ``best practice`` approach. The paper concludes by highlighting the limitations of CSR in the sustainable development of the NDR

Environment, politics and governance in Latin America

No abstract available

Are agri-business companies responsible for land grabbing in Central Africa?

Land grabbing usually refers to the controversial acquisition of a piece of land. As such it is a social concept. It deals with social and cultural use of and access to land, and with land tenure, including customary and legal rights. If we accept this definition, land grabbing cannot apply to a piece of land free of legitimate claim. However, projects associated with large-scale deforestation are often qualified as land grabs, without any reference to the social characteristics of the land and the project. The concept has been used since 2000 to target foreign investments in developing countries in agriculture, forestry, mining or infrastructure sectors. Can large-scale land acquisitions be analyzed within the land grab framework? Several indicators were selected and applied to a large sample of agro-industrial concessions in Cameroon, Gabon, DRC and RC. These indicators include historical occupation of land, customary rights, legal land tenure status, Free Prior and Informed Consent. There have been several periods of important investments in Central Africa which have affected land tenure, access and use in various manners. But agribusiness companies are not the only stakeholders competing for land and national elites should not be overlooked. (Résumé d'auteur

Heritage entrepreneurship. Agency-driven promotion of the Mediterranean diet in Spain.

This article explores the role of the agency in the social process that constitutes cultural heritage. By introducing the concept of heritage entrepreneurship to explain the conversion of cultural elements into heritage, we discuss the case of the Mediterranean diet (MD) in Spain. We explore the role of an expert NGO in the recent inclusion of the MD in the UNESCO Representative List of the intangible cultural heritage of Humanity. Empirical evidence is presented for two basic patterns of heritage entrepreneurship, namely the construction and promotion of cultural heritage. First, we show how the community-heritage narrative is constructed in the official nomination file of the MD. Second, we analyse how businesses, governments and researchers constitute a specific heritage entrepreneur. We argue that the promotion of the MD as cultural heritage makes ordinary food different, both qualitatively (healthy and sustainable) and culturally (Mediterranean and traditional). We then look at the specific political, economic and scientific value of such a difference and its uses in Spain

Innovation for the base of the pyramid: Critical perspectives from development studies on heterogeneity and participation

This article criticises current BoP approaches for under-appreciating two issues that play vital roles in projects targeting the poor at the BoP: heterogeneity among the poor, and the intricacies of participatory partnerships between TNCs, the non-profit sector (NGOs) and local poor communities in the global south. Our main contention is that the extant BoP literature has a naive view of what working with the poor really involves, which grossly underestimates adverse power relationships and disregards the hierarchies between the poor and outsiders who administer development interventions. To unpack the hidden complexities associated with heterogeneity and partnership dynamics, we draw on extensive knowledge from the field of development studies, which has accumulated key insights about working in and with poorer communities over several decades.innovation and development, participation, poverty alleviation, TNCs