| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the concept of trust in the context of resource extraction, focusing on the moral and statutory responsibilities of the state, extractive firms, and host communities, and using Nigeria's Niger Delta as a case study. It attributes ongoing oil-related unrest to the breakdown of trust between these parties. Using a combination of primary and secondary data, it links outbreaks of violence to the failure of the state to foster development, create an enabling environment for economic growth in communities, and build rational institutions for peaceful and sustainable resource extraction; oil companies' exploitation of weaknesses in existing institutional arrangements to promote selfish interests; communities' almost-total dependence on companies for the provision of public goods and employment; and the collapse of trust between communities and between various groups and individuals in the region. To address conflict outbreaks, restore and build trust between parties, it recommends some institutional reforms and policy changes in the oil industry and beyond.
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