SIMT31, Master’s Thesis (Two Years) Development Studies Graduate School Spring Term 2011 Supervisor: Steven Sampson Managing Mining: Transparency in the Shadows An Anthropological Exploration into Global Policies and Governance in Sierra Leone Anders Reimers Larsen Abstract The management of the mining sector in Sierra Leone is characterised by numerous integrations of government and donor agency policies, resembling that of global development agendas advocating for improvements of governance, transparency, capacity building and revenue generation. We must view the global policies in their local scales in order to substantiate their actual effects. The central argument is that in the frictions among the actors seeking influence on managing the mining sector, we can identify moves towards both enhanced transparency, as well as counter-moves that resemble the shadow affairs that historically has characterised the mining sector in Sierra Leone. Such processes underline the importance to locally appropriate policies to evaluate their effects and implications. The thesis takes point of departure in the signing of two mining license agreements that failed to live up to the expectations of a recently embarked process in Sierra Leone to improve on transparency and economic contribution. By studying the context in which these processes and events took place, it is an exploration into policy and governance in a developing country. It raises the point that global mining policy schemes are perhaps not yet completely grasping the problems of the mining sector that are external to the countries where mineral extraction takes place, failing to provide measures to counter illicit capital transfers and corruptive behaviour of the mining companies. 1 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude towards all the people who have helped in the process of making this thesis. Firstly, I would like to thank the staff at the Ministry of Mineral Resources for inviting me into their offices for discussions. I would also like to thank the several other government offices, donor agency, consultancy offices where I was kindly given time to ease my curiosity. Thank you also to the receptionists, security guards, secretaries for the chats and attempts to set up meetings despite opposition from your organisation. A special thanks to the many people who have aided me while I was developing ideas, contacts, analyses, and not least provided me with material. Your thoughts and insights have been more helpful than might seem visible from this thesis. You know who you are, so do I, and that is how it will remain. I cannot leave out to also extend my gratitude to those who at the last stage assisted me well in finalizing this long project of making sense out of confusion and secrecy. Thank you for the support from family, friends and loved ones. And not least to my supervisor for the critical and pushing tone. 2 Table of contents Abstract................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................ 2 Table of contents .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction to Case and Research ......................................................................................................................... 4 Context and arguments ................................................................................................................................... 6 Structure of thesis ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Methodological and Theoretical Foundations ....................................................................................... 9 Theoretical and analytical concepts ................................................................................................................ 9 Friction, scale making and studying policy ................................................................................................ 9 Institutions as actors and management as a stage .................................................................................... 12 Definitions of central concepts ..................................................................................................................... 14 “Managing”? ............................................................................................................................................ 14 “Development”? ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Methodological foundations ......................................................................................................................... 17 Positioning ............................................................................................................................................... 17 Field methodology – interviews and ethical practices ............................................................................. 19 Limitations .................................................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 2: Global Scale of Policy and Processes ................................................................................................. 25 Donor agencies ............................................................................................................................................. 25 Policy tracks: financing, governance and transparency ................................................................................ 26 The resource curse ........................................................................................................................................ 29 Mining is development ................................................................................................................................. 30 Chapter 3: Sierra Leone as a Shadow State .......................................................................................................... 33 Foundations and developments of the Shadow State .................................................................................... 34 Dual logics of governance ............................................................................................................................ 37 Intensification of international interference .................................................................................................. 38 Civil war consequences ................................................................................................................................ 39 Chapter 4: Current Actors and Processes ............................................................................................................. 41 Mining sector credentials .............................................................................................................................. 41 Actors, projects and relationships ................................................................................................................. 42 Initial government response ..................................................................................................................... 42 International intervention ......................................................................................................................... 42 Civil society influence ............................................................................................................................. 45 Ad hoc solutions ...................................................................................................................................... 46 Changing trends ....................................................................................................................................... 46 Government ownership or donor driven? ................................................................................................ 47 A narrative of potentials? .............................................................................................................................. 49 Economic figures ..................................................................................................................................... 52 Understanding the narrative of the potential ............................................................................................ 54 Chapter 5: Still a Shadow State? Frictions and scale making in the mining sector in Sierra Leone ..................... 56 Dislocations and confusions ......................................................................................................................... 58 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................ 62 List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................ 65 References ...........................................................................................................................................................