Sociospatial geographies of civil war in Sierra Leone and the new global diamond order: is the Kimberley process the panacea?

Abstract

We examine the relationship between diamonds and conflict, and performance of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in combating ‘conflict diamonds’ using Sierra Leone as a case study and theory on the social production of scale. A ‘glocalization’ process produced lawless spaces and economic opportunities for rebels to circumvent national controls through subregional networks and to access global capital to fund conflict, while KPCS arrangements stemmed conflict diamonds by restoring state regulation and transparency. We contend that the KPCS and its scaling were initially more about protecting economic interests of major diamond companies and trading countries than about ‘ethical diamonds’. The KPCS externalized costs to national governments and poor alluvial-diamond-producing countries relative to industry players; hence the discordance between near elimination of conflict diamonds globally and relative failure in these countries. Findings suggest an approach differentiated by country circumstances, and broadening the KPCS from conflict to illicit and development diamonds.