Natural resources, profit and peace : multinational corporations and conflict transformation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Abstract

This study is anchored on the premise that contemporary international relations has been

characterised by the expansion and growing importance of multinational corporations

(MNCs) whose power and influence have had concomitant ramifications for national

sovereignty and autochthonous socio-economic arrangements. Through their expansion and

operations in host countries, MNCs are imbricated in activities or processes that may

exacerbate socio-political traumas and development pathologies on one hand, and those that

may facilitate transformative change on the other. In mineral-rich but conflict-prone

environments, MNCs are directly or invariably drawn into conflicts in which access to natural

resources is germane to attaining/sustaining the corporate objective of profit maximisation.

To unpack these issues, the study uses a triangulation – natural resources, profit and peace –

to interrogate the roles of MNCs in conflicts and the peace process in the Democratic

Republic of Congo (DRC) – a country whose ‘biography’ is steeped in conflict.

The study relies on data gathered from three (3) focus group discussions (comprising 30

participants, mainly Congolese expatriates in South Africa), 71 in-depth interviews and 150

questionnaires administered in the DRC. Research findings suggest that MNCs in conflict

zones such as the DRC are confronted with a choice: to engage in activities that exacerbate

conflicts or contribute to peace processes. Corporate complicity in conflicts, which takes the

form of illicit resource exploitation and the provision of financial assistance and logistical

support to warring parties, lubricates war economies. By contrast, corporate actors make

positive contributions in conflict settings through social responsibility projects and

humanitarian programmes. Therefore, MNCs can be parties in conflict even as they can be

agents of peace.

MNCs – as powerful economic actors – are influential host environments, especially in weak

states. State deflation gives corporations comparative advantage in the public sphere, thus

making their activities – whether positive or negative – extremely significant. The DRC case

shows that MNCs shape conflicts in terms of intensity, technological sophistication,

longevity and the prospects for their attenuation. However, the study also reveals the

potentialities of MNCs to contribute to peace, development and prosperity in host

environments. Hence, the utility of mainstreaming corporate peacebuilding into business

activities in conflict zones.

Finally, the study – drawing from the findings – makes recommendations that address the

deleterious consequences of the intricate connections of natural resources, business and

conflicts. These recommendations relate to the reconstruction or restructuring of the state in

Africa to make it developmental, with a view to mobilising its natural resources for national

prosperity; and the consolidation of effective natural resource management and good

political/economic governance, with an eye on issues such as anti-corruption, transparency in

the extractive industry, and environmental sustainability. The study also recommends the

emplacement of sub-regional mechanisms to bolster national capacities for combating illicit

resource exploitation and trafficking; the creation of effective international certification

schemes to regulate mineral exploitation and trade; and the development of a Pan-African

regime for regulating corporate behaviour vis-à-vis conflict-sensitivity and the role of

business in peacebuilding and development processes. Collectively, these recommendations

not only offer roadmaps for resource-rich countries plagued by, or emerging from, conflicts,

and those striving to circumvent the slide into the vortex of resource-related political

instability but also prescribe policy choices that facilitate resource-driven development.