Fueling Conflicts by Sharing Benefits? Qualitative Evidence froma Mining Conflict in Burkina Faso

Abstract

This chapter discusses whether and how mining companies’ attempts to share benefits with mining-affected communities can contribute to grievances and conflicts. It builds on a case study of a mining-conflict in Burkina Faso using primary and secondary data collected during fieldwork. The analysis combines grievance-based accounts of social mobilization with insights from the private politics literature. The main argument is that company-led benefit-sharing activities can contribute to grievances and conflict especially in fragmented societies, when companies have an interest to target their benefit-sharing activities to certain powerful groups only, as well as in contexts where political power balances are changing. The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of these claims for other approaches to share benefits with mining-affected communities.