This article serves as an introduction to the special issue 'A Local to Global Perspective on Resource Governance and Conflict'. It advances the debate on natural resource governance and conflict by bringing together three different strands of literature with the aim of developing a local to global research perspective and framework for analysis. First, this article reviews and identifies research gaps in the literatures on (1) the resource curse, (2) environmental security and (3) the large-scale acquisition of land and natural resources. Second, it addresses the previously identified research gaps by developing a local to global research perspective and a corresponding analytical framework. The final section of this contribution summarises the key findings of the articles presented in the special issue and outlines their policy implications.

Industrialized economies in the EU depend heavily on imports of minerals. The extraction and parts of the transport and processing of these minerals take place in the Global South and often bear high human rights and environmental risks. A lack of traceability in mineral supply chains makes it particularly difficult to hold companies accountable for negative environmental and social impacts of their operations and those of their suppliers. This paper analyses three mineral supply chains (copper, platinum, and gold) in order to develop propositions about how supply chain‐specific characteristics affect traceability and foreign corporate accountability (FCA) in mineral supply chains. The analytical framework focuses on three dimensions: geopolitical dynamics, industry characteristics, and private governance mechanisms. The authors argue that chain‐specific characteristics may foster or thwart traceability and FCA in mineral supply chains and thus provides a novel contribution to the debate on traceability and accountability in mineral supply chains.

Many lecturers preach teamwork, but they do not practice it by sharing responsibility for classes. Particularly in a transnational context, inputs from lecturers and learners from various countries might be beneficial for students' learning. This paper asks the question: How can higher education institutions (HEI) set up cross-country and cross-HEI co-teaching to facilitate the transfer of host and home country knowledge? The authors provide insights into a transnational co-teaching project that partly relies on virtual distance learning across countries. This real-life project supports small and medium sized enterprises in their international endeavours with the support of lecturers and student teams from the respective host countries as well as their home countries. The authors discuss advantages and disadvantages of cross-country and cross-HEI co-teaching in comparison to traditional teaching methods. Furthermore, the authors elaborate on the impact of virtual distance learning in comparison to in-class teaching at a single physical location. Due to the international nature of the project, it mainly relies on distance learning that can be very effective when implemented correctly. The paper provides lessons learned from the project that might be beneficial for lecturers with and without international components in their teaching.

Higher Education Institutions (HEI)

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