A Legal Anthropological Reimagining of Contract In Global Value Chains: Relations Between Mining Firms and Local Communities at Corporate Frontiers

Abstract

At resource frontiers, manifold contracts between a mining firm, the state and third parties determine the responsibility of the former for the wellbeing of local communities. The contracts between the different actors are regulated by state law, self-regulatory norms of lead firms and international standards. In this paper, I examine the relations between a Colombian mining firm and local communities which evolve from the contractual configurations at resource frontiers. I argue that the contracts in conjunction with the law regulating them foresee and construct close relations between the mining firm and neighbouring residents. In that closeness, the mining firm assumes far-reaching responsibilities for the economic and social well-being of local communities. In regard to those responsibilities, contract law can and should play a pivotal role in the societal governance of GVCs at corporate frontiers.

Keywords: Global value chains, extractive industries, legal anthropology, contract law