PULP FICTIONS Balch
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Pulp Fictions: The Role of Detachable Corporate Social Responsibility in Building Legitimacy for Uruguay’s Largest Ever Foreign Investment. Oliver Balch Christ’s College University of Cambridge September 2018 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Latin American Studies. Pulp Fictions: The Role of Detachable Corporate Social Responsibility in Building Legitimacy for Uruguay’s Largest Ever Foreign Investment. Oliver Balch This thesis examines how practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) serve to legitimise Uruguay’s largest ever foreign investment, the US$2.5-billion pulp mill constructed by the Finnish- Chilean firm Montes del Plata. Unusually, this investment prompted little social conflict, which runs counter to the community tensions frequently associated with large-scale infrastructure investments in Latin America. To explore this, the thesis takes an agency-oriented approach to the study of corporate- community relations. It offers fresh insights for critical management scholars and anthropologists of corporations into the techniques of collusion and co-optation in large-scale foreign direct investment (FDI) projects. Based on participant observation with Montes del Plata’s community relations managers and their community interlocutors, conducted over separate periods during and after the mill’s construction, the thesis examines the legitimising impulse of corporate citizenship, both as concept and practice. I show how the company seeks to incorporate itself as a morally-infused entity through ongoing interactions between its representative agents and external actors. I argue that the form of CSR that emerges is neither moral nor responsible, but its command over social relations nonetheless makes it a potent force for corporate capitalism’s expansion. The mill owner attempts to manage its social and political relations in such a way as to secure the proximity needed for legitimacy-building, while creating the requisite distance to reduce onerous moral obligations; a balance that I analyse using the concepts of detachment and depoliticisation. The thesis opens with a discussion of the politics of representation, demonstrating how the agents of Montes del Plata (the Corporation) shape the local political ecosystem through the recognition, or not, of its counterparties’ claims to representativeness. Chapters 1 and 2 also explore the theory of personation, especially in the efforts by the Corporation’s community managers to infuse the company with moral characteristics. Their struggles in doing so invite consideration of a pragmatic approach to legitimacy building through the calculated management of social relations. Chapters 3 and 4 further show how principles of detachment and depoliticisation frame the Corporation’s approach to relationship management. Chapter 3 examines how participation and empowerment are utilised to depoliticise development goods and stage the Corporation’s detachment from their delivery. Chapter 4 examines the detachment effects of the changes to the region’s political economy sparked by the mill project, and how the mill owner depoliticises public expectations of job creation. The conclusion makes the case for a distinctive approach to FDI legitimation driven by detachment (and reattachment) and facilitated by depoliticisation, which I term ‘detachable CSR’. Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other Qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. The total length of the dissertation is 79,820 words. Contents Figures 9 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 12 I.1 Forestry in Latin America 14 I.2 Rapid growth of forestry in Uruguay 18 I.3 Specificity of pulp production 23 I.4 Montes del Plata: the particularities of the Punta Pereira pulp project 29 I.5 Detachable CSR: corporate relations, legitimation & moral disposition 33 I.6 Place in literature 37 I.7 Research methods 46 I.8 Methodological strengths & weaknesses 50 I.9 Theoretical limitations 54 I.10 Thesis structure 57 Chapter 1 Asphalt Dreams & Political Potholes: struggle, passivity 60 and the micro-politics of representation 1.1 Context setting: local political ecosystem 61 1.2 The Community: leadership lacuna & the struggle for civic representation 64 1.3 The State: navigating the potholes of representative government 72 1.4 State and Corporation: an uneasy accommodation 80 1.5 The Corporation: fixing power relations in place 85 1.6 Conclusion: passivity – the price of tarmac 90 Chapter 2 Showing Face: Legitimacy, Community Relations and the Role 93 of Managerial Agency 2.1 Meet the managers: Helena & Teresa 96 2.2 Doing the ‘right’ thing: moral legitimation via personation 97 2.3 Strategic Relations: pragmatic legitimacy via stakeholder management 108 2.4 Virtualising neighbourly relations 121 2.5 Conclusion: CSR, at face value 126 Chapter 3 The Reluctant Father Christmas: Detachment and Distance 129 in the Delivery of Community Development 3.1 Problematisation: historic paternalism 131 3.2 Participation: distance-making effects 143 3.3 Conclusion: an ill-fated experiment in autonomous development 155 Chapter 4 Jobs in the Frame: Employment and Employability 160 in a Pulp-Producing Enclave 4.1 The Punta Pereira Enclave 162 4.2 Job creation, productivity & the political economy of forestry in Uruguay 164 4.3 Employment: payroll politics inside the enclave 168 4.4 Employability: skills training, rural productivity and political legitimacy 173 4.5 ‘Jobs for all’: moral overflows, local workers & the detachable database 181 4.6 Conclusion: enclaving employment 191 Conclusion Detachable CSR: corporate relations, legitimation & moral disposition 194 Detachability: CSR’s ever-present aide 197 Implications for practice & research 200 Bibliography 204 Figures Figure 1 Micro-region: Radial Hernández, Pueblo Gil, Conchillas, Puerto Inglés 13 Figure 2 Montes del Plata’s mill project at Punta Pereira, Uruguay, during construction 47 Figure 3 Regional Context of Montes del Plata’s Punta Pereira mill project 48 Figure 4 Conchillas high street, depicting its uniQue ‘English-style’ architecture 61 Figure 5 Casa Evans, the micro-region’s historic building and de facto community centre 63 Figure 6 A supply truck travelling to the Punta Pereira site on the Las Palmitas road 73 Figure 7 The fly-over bridge at the Ruta 55 extension, under construction 87 Figure 8 The toilet block sponsored by Montes del Plata in Puerto Inglés 93 Figure 9 Montes del Plata’s local office in Conchillas 99 Figure 10 The bay at Puerto Inglés, looking out from the municipal beach 115 Figure 11 Montes del Plata’s regional community director being filmed for MDP TV 126 Figure 12 Street names in Conchillas, depicting its British heritage as a company town 135 Figure 13 125th Anniversary exhibition outside Casa Evans, funded by Montes del Plata 136 Figure 14 Beatriz, the CLAEH coordinator, leading a Forum workshop 145 Figure 15 Colonia West Hotel, Puerto Inglés’ deluxe new tourist offering 150 Figure 16 Rental prices in the micro-region nearly tripled during the ‘boom’ period 161 Figure 17 A fast-growth eucalyptus plantation in central Uruguay 176 Figure 18 Club Uruguayo, bar and social centre located just off Conchillas’ main plaza 182 Figure 19 A young ‘gaucho’ at a rodeo organised by Conchillas’ PalenQue Nativist Club 187 Figure 20 Plaque erected in Conchillas plaza (‘Greetings to the People of Conchillas’) 196 9 Acknowledgements Corporate-community relations are all too often characterized by distrust and acrimony. One of the unexpected advantages of the relative harmony surrounding the Punta Pereira project was not being obliged to pick sides. Even so, access can never be taken for granted; it is entirely dependent on the goodwill and generosity of others. For this reason, I am indebted to all the staff members at Montes del Plata and to all the citizens of the micro-region who opened their doors to me. Particular thanks go to the mill owner’s Community Relations team, who tolerated my presence with great patience and who showed me many individual kindnesses. In the micro-region, I am especially grateful to Esther Giribone and her son Mario-EnriQue Colman for their hospitality in both Conchillas and Montevideo. Thanks too to the secretariat of the Amigos de Conchillas, to all the representatives of CLAEH, to ‘Chino’ (whose book I will return), and to Jorge and Liliana, for your good humour and friendship. In Colonia, my thanks to “Don” Luis, the most amiable of cab drivers, whose street-corner gossip provided me with happy memories and multiple insights. For their support to myself and my family, my thanks to Marcos Pos, Martin Rosberg, Jorge Perez, Gabriela Buonomo Touron, Silvina Suárez Munist and Tobias Padilla. I am also grateful to Nacho Dominguez at Negro Films for his provision of archive footage, and to the staff at Noticias for allowing me access to their library. To my fellow Latin Americanists, Marria Ehrnström-Fuentes and Rajiv Maher, un gran abrazo. Back at the University of Cambridge, this thesis has benefitted immeasurably from the diligent, insightful and patient support of my supervisor, Dr. Sian Lazar. Her comments and suggestions have informed every step of my research and every page of this dissertation. I am especially grateful for her flexibility and understanding when hurdles presented themselves during the course of my studies. Additional thanks to my PhD peers Felix, Patrick, Ryan, Corinna, Max, Farhan and Helena for their companionship and critical input. My appreciation also goes to Christ’s College and the Centre for Latin American Studies for their financial support. To Sam Mather, formerly of CLAS, hats off to you.