Paper Topic: “If you want to mine you must first meet the custodians of the land”: Relations between Global Corporate Actors and Informal Authorities
Paper Abstract: The International Political Economy (IPE) literature on transnational corporations and foreign direct investment is based on the core neoliberal assumption that the state is the main custodian, regulator, and protector of natural resources. But when it comes to land – the most sought-after commodity in the Global South – this is often governed by customary laws and practices of informal authorities. Based on an extensive fieldwork of mining and agrobusiness sites in Sierra Leone, this paper contends that a formal concession agreement signed between the state and corporate actors does not guarantee that the latter will have property rights and access to the land. Corporate actors often need unofficial endorsement and trust of networks of informal rulers to gain access to lands they had signed lease agreements with state agencies.  The cases examined showed global corporate actors had to negotiate with both state and informal authorities, whose interests do not always align, before they secured property rights and access to the land.