Land grabbing “from below”? Illicit artisanal gold mining and access to land in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire

Bockstael, Steven Van

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.04.045

Cited by 40 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…In the Worodougou area, for example, a poor region of the country where the population strongly supported the political goals of the rebellion and many people joined the FN, a sense of abandonment and deception was prevalent in 2017. Former combatants, residents, and officials alike complained that the leaders of the rebellion exploited the mineral wealth of the area during the division of the country, and then neglected it after taking power in Abidjan (see also Van Bockstael, 2019, p. 911; Grajales, 2020). Examining respondent perceptions about local economic conditions in the near-border sample, only 31% of respondents reported that they felt that local economic conditions had improved in their community since 2011—a notably low rate, given the country’s widely touted post-conflict economic recovery—and only 35% felt that government rehabilitation projects had benefited their locality.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Legacies of Rebel Rule: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Côte d’Ivoire

Martin

Piccolino

Speight

2022

Comparative Political Studies

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How does exposure to rebel rule affect citizens’ political attitudes after armed conflicts end? We combine original survey data from Côte d’Ivoire with a natural experiment based on the arbitrary location of a ceasefire boundary to estimate the effects of exposure to rebel rule by the Forces Nouvelles (FN) on Ivorians’ sense of democratic citizenship. Our findings show that individuals in communities ruled by the FN held more negative attitudes about local government institutions 7 years after the reunification of the country, held weaker commitments to civic obligations, and were more likely to condone extralegal actions. The effects of rebel rule are larger than the effects of extreme lived poverty and appear among both rebel coethnics and non-coethnics. Using qualitative and survey evidence, we propose three theoretical mechanisms to explain why exposure to rebel rule weakened citizen-state relations: disrupted norms of compliance with state-like authorities, the formation of local self-help institutions leading to negative assessments of the redeployed state, and resentment due to unmet expectations of economic recovery. Our study informs debates about the links between war, citizenship, and statebuilding.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Legacies of Rebel Rule: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Côte d’Ivoire

Martin

Piccolino

Speight

2022

Comparative Political Studies

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“…Yet, after 15 years, dominant top-down formalization strategies (e.g., ASGM licenses, corridors, etc.) have overall had very limited results (Van Bockstael 2019;Hilson 2017;Geenen 2012) when not merely counterproductive (Marshall and Veiga 2017;Hilson and Maconachie 2017;Banchirigah 2006). The passage from tolerance to formality (by dedicating specific sections to ASGM in the last round of mining codes' revision) has de facto placed most miners in the realm of illegality (Van Bockstael 2014;Hilson 2013), notwithstanding "vulnerabilizing" (Fisher 2007), "marginalizing" (Tschakert and Singha 2007;Sauerwein 2020), or "criminalizing" (Crawford and Botchwey 2018) informal actors.…”

Section: Earth Observation For An Inclusive Formalization Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Artisanal Exploitation of Mineral Resources: Remote Sensing Observations of Environmental Consequences, Social and Ethical Aspects

et al. 2022

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Since the rise of the gold price in 2000, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a growing economic activity in developing countries. It represents a source of income for several millions of people in West Africa. Exploitation techniques have evolved from traditional gold panning to mechanization and use of chemical products that are harmful for the environment. Government strategies to control and regulate this activity are impeded by the difficulties to collect spatial information, due to the remote location and the mobile and informal natural of ASGM. Here we present and discuss the value of remote sensing techniques to complement the knowledge on artisanal mining impacts, including for detection of illegal sites, the evaluation of the degradation of soils and waters, the deforestation and the monitoring of expansion of ASGM with time. However, these techniques are blind regarding gender issues, labor relations, mobility, migration, and insecurity and need to be considered with knowledges from other disciplines. Remote sensing is also instilled with various powers accruing to those enabled to produce and interpret these data. Remote sensing should be therefore used in a reflexive manner that accounts for the social, ethical and political implications of ASGM governance informed by space observations.

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“…Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) 1 is considered an efficient means of alleviating poverty mainly in rural areas of developing countries (e.g. ILO 1999; African Union 2009; Hilson 2010, 2013; Hilson & Garforth 2013; Van Bockstael 2014, 2019; Spiegel 2015; Afriyie et al . 2016; Buss et al 2019; Eduful et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Framing illegal artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Ghanaian media during the #StopGalamsey campaign

Sojková

2022

J. Mod. Afr. Stud.

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Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) plays a significant socio-economic role in the alleviation of poverty. In Ghana, the increase in and persistence of illegal ASM (galamsey) can be explained by unemployment, cumbersome and costly registration, lack of land, corruption and Chinese engagement. Traditionally, Ghanaian governments have neglected to address ASM activities by means of policy, while publicly emphasizing its negative impacts. In 2017, the media campaign #StopGalamsey became a culmination of this process. This study represents a qualitative content analysis of #StopGalamsey media discourses. It aims to understand how galamsey was framed in the media during the first two years of the campaign. Based on an analysis of 176 articles from the Daily Graphic newspaper, four dominant frames were identified – environmental menace, criminal activity, complex menace and corruption and collusion. Galamsey was portrayed in an overwhelmingly negative way, miners were dehumanised and criminalised, conflicting perspectives marginalised, and non-traditional perception emphasised via Chinese engagement.

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Land grabbing “from below”? Illicit artisanal gold mining and access to land in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire

Cited by 40 publications

References 55 publications

The Political Legacies of Rebel Rule: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Côte d’Ivoire

The Political Legacies of Rebel Rule: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Côte d’Ivoire

Artisanal Exploitation of Mineral Resources: Remote Sensing Observations of Environmental Consequences, Social and Ethical Aspects

Framing illegal artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Ghanaian media during the #StopGalamsey campaign

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