Legal empowerment for local resource control

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Power in the law: power relations within the legal professions (e.g. between legislators, judges and scholars), and between legal professionals and “laymen” (e.g. between lawyers and their clients); Power by the law: how the law contributes to shape power relations – through legal entitlements and rules that create, strengthen, limit and/or legitimise power, and through legal services that enable disadvantaged groups to use their entitlements. This third aspect underpins the concept of legal empowerment. 23
24 2.2. FOREIGN INVESTMENT PROJECTS IN AFRICA: DIFFERENCES IN POWER, DIFFERENCES IN LAW 2.2.1. Power relations in foreign investment projects In foreign investment projects, power (in both its coercive and persuasive dimensions) informs relations among the many actors involved. These include: The corporation(s) implementing the investment project (the “investor(s)”). This comprises several legal entities (e.g. the parent company based in the home country and the subsidiary incorporated in the host country), which may bear different worldviews, interests and negotiating power. The investor may exert considerable power vis-à-vis other actors such as local resource users and the host state, based on differences in skills, resources and economic clout. However, this varies considerably across sectors: for instance, in the mining and petroleum sectors, investment is tied to a particular location for longer periods, which undermines the investor’s negotiating power vis-à-vis the host state; while logging companies can more easily move their investment, which tends to strengthen their negotiating power (Filer with Sekhran, 1998). Power relations between the investor, local resource users and the host state also vary during the implementation of the investment project (see below). Local resource users affected by the investment project. These experience substantial power asymmetries in their relations with foreign investors and the central state (e.g. due to illiteracy, lack of resources and lack of legal awareness); but may still dispose of (legal or illegal) ways of exercising power, including through sabotage of the investor’s assets (on these aspects, see e.g. Akpan, 2005, and Filer with Sekhran, 1998). Local resource users typically include different groups that have competing interests and unequal negotiating power (along status, wealth, age, gender and other lines). These internal divisions may be exacerbated by the higher stakes brought about by the investment project, when some groups may oppose the project while others may strike deals with foreign investors and with the central state to the detriment of other local groups (see e.g. Amanor, 1999). The host state in which the investment takes place. The host state sets the terms and conditions of the investment project (often on the basis of
Page 1 and 2: Legal empowerment for local resourc
Page 3 and 4: LEGAL EMPOWERMENT FOR LOCAL RESOURC
Page 5 and 6: ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lorenzo Cotula (lo
Page 7 and 8: ICSID International Centre for the
Page 9 and 10: viii
Page 11 and 12: x III. LEGAL TOOLS TO SECURE LOCAL
Page 13 and 14: 2 Legal empowerment can increase lo
Page 15 and 16: 4 and implementing para-legal tools
Page 17 and 18: 6 1.1. OVERVIEW 1.1.1. The issue Ac
Page 19 and 20: 8 local levels. Overall, the law te
Page 21 and 22: 10 1.2. DEFINITIONS, SCOPE AND RATI
Page 23 and 24: 12 generally, the range of strategi
Page 25 and 26: 14 CHART 2. FDI STOCK IN SELECTED A
Page 27 and 28: 16 the Middle East, to sub-Saharan
Page 29 and 30: 18 2.1. POWER AND LEGAL EMPOWERMENT
Page 31 and 32: 20 where short timeframes would pre
Page 33: 22 provisions embodied in the const
Page 37 and 38: 26 country power structures through
Page 39 and 40: 28 investor to access a specific lo
Page 41 and 42: 30 compensation), 11 and those on t
Page 43 and 44: 32 that characterised the Cold War,
Page 45 and 46: 34 As a result, the international l
Page 47 and 48: 36 have also created government age
Page 49 and 50: 38 In Africa, very little land has
Page 51 and 52: 40 When conflicts between local and
Page 53 and 54: 42 FIGURE 1. LAW AND POWER IN FOREI
Page 55 and 56: 44 2.3. TOOLS FOR LEGAL EMPOWERMENT
Page 57 and 58: 46 citizens at large use them. The
Page 59 and 60: 48 2.3.2. Para-legal tools The fact
Page 61 and 62: 50 emphasise helping clients themse
Page 64 and 65: III. LEGAL TOOLS TO SECURE LOCAL RE
Page 66 and 67: institutional arrangements, or wher
Page 68 and 69: In Cameroon, efforts to vest strong
Page 70 and 71: Group rights and individual rights
Page 72 and 73: BOX 4. TOOLS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT A
Page 74 and 75: (section 1 of the Land Act and sect
Page 76 and 77: BOX 5. LOCAL CONVENTIONS Where stro
Page 78 and 79: and is meant to shift the balance o
Page 80 and 81: ights on the ground, which usually
Page 82 and 83: Denise Malauene Community land regi
Page 84 and 85:
addressed. Reform to strengthen the
Page 86 and 87:
state, local resource users can “
Page 88 and 89:
Another aspect of “who to consult
Page 90 and 91:
occur at a relatively late stage in
Page 92 and 93:
To sum up Mandatory consultation pr
Page 94 and 95:
usually not formalised in the way r
Page 96 and 97:
3.3. TOOLS TO MINIMISE AND COMPENSA
Page 98 and 99:
In some cases, these EIA provisions
Page 100 and 101:
Tighter legal requirements on SIAs
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First, legislation typically requir
Page 104 and 105:
under the Village Land Act, “cust
Page 106 and 107:
prohibits “arbitrary” deprivati
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the implementation of micro-project
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BOX 7. THE SAN OF BOTSWANA: COMBINI
Page 112 and 113:
aise issues about the project’s s
Page 114 and 115:
Tight rules on statutes of limitati
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to hold the parent company responsi
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IV. CONCLUSION 107
Page 120 and 121:
Part III of the study analysed rece
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FIGURE 3. LEGAL TOOLS - CONCEPTUAL
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4.2. FROM LEGAL TOOLS TO LEGAL EMPO
Page 126 and 127:
First, each of the legal tools anal
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account is shaped by power relation
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4.3. WHAT NEXT? This study has deve
Page 132 and 133:
V. ANNEXES 121
Page 134 and 135:
years or periodic tenancy, usually
Page 136 and 137:
5.2. REFERENCES 5.2.1. Literature A
Page 138 and 139:
Egbe, S.E., 2001b, “The Law, Comm
Page 140 and 141:
Platteau, J.P., 2000, “Does Afric
Page 142 and 143:
BACONGO v. Department of the Enviro
Page 144:
Legal empowerment for local resourc
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Legal empowerment for local resource control

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