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The social license

In: The Social License

Author

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  • John Morrison

Abstract

In his statement to the court in 1995, shortly before his execution, Ken Saro-Wiwa stated: I predict that the scene here will be played and replayed by generations yet unborn. Some have already cast themselves in the role of villains, some are tragic victims, some still have a chance to redeem themselves. The choice is for each individual.1 In this extract from his final words, Ken Saro-Wiwa captures something of his legacy—a community’s struggle for environmental and social justice but also one in which powerful actors have real choices. In his final statement, Ken blamed the Shell Oil Company for what was wrong with the country—the environmental degradation, the corruption, the oppression—but, fundamentally, he was blaming the unaccountable Nigerian state. The Nigerian government had betrayed the social contract that had created it, was no longer the servant of the Nigerian people but had become its oppressor. Shell was seen to be heavily complicit with that arrangement. The role played by Shell executives during 1994 and 1995 has been the subject of legal cases, out-of-court settlements, and so on, but what is clear—in my opinion at least—is that the company lost the social license for its activities in that part of the Niger Delta because it was perceived to be so close to what was then an unaccountable Nigerian state.

Suggested Citation

  • John Morrison, 2014. "The social license," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Social License, chapter 0, pages 12-28, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-37072-3_2
    DOI: 10.1057/9781137370723_2
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    Cited by:

    1. Boutilier, Robert G., 2020. "Narratives and networks model of the social licence," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Benjamin John Wiesner & Paul Dargusch, 2022. "The Social License to Restore—Perspectives on Community Involvement in Indonesian Peatland Restoration," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Smits, Coco C.A. & van Leeuwen, Judith & van Tatenhove, Jan P.M., 2017. "Oil and gas development in Greenland: A social license to operate, trust and legitimacy in environmental governance," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 109-116.
    4. Federica Nieri & Luciano Ciravegna, 2019. "Investigating firms' involvement in corporate social irresponsibility: Are family owned MNEs better corporate citizens?," Discussion Papers 2019/254, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    5. Geert Demuijnck & Björn Fasterling, 2016. "The Social License to Operate," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(4), pages 675-685, July.
    6. Anna Katharina Provasnek & Anton Sentic & Erwin Schmid, 2017. "Integrating Eco‐Innovations and Stakeholder Engagement for Sustainable Development and a Social License to Operate," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 173-185, May.
    7. Martha Fani Cahyandito, 2017. "The Effectiveness of Community Development and Environmental Protection Program in Oil and Gas Industry in Indonesia: Policy, Institutional, and Implementation Review," Journal of Management and Sustainability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 7(1), pages 115-126, March.
    8. Leeuwerik, R.N.C. & Rozemeijer, M.J.C. & van Leeuwen, J., 2021. "Conceptualizing the interaction of context, process and status in the Social License to operate: The case of marine diamond mining in Namibia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Cesar Saenz, 2019. "Building legitimacy and trust between a mining company and a community to earn social license to operate: A Peruvian case study," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 296-306, March.
    10. Misani, Nicola, 2020. "Sustainability and Implicit Contracts," MPRA Paper 104963, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Brueckner, Martin & Eabrasu, Marian, 2018. "Pinning down the social license to operate (SLO): The problem of normative complexity," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 217-226.
    12. Stephens, Siân & Robinson, Bryan Michael Kenneth, 2021. "The social license to operate in the onshore wind energy industry: A comparative case study of Scotland and South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    13. Debrah, Akua Asamoah & Mtegha, Hudson & Cawood, Frederick, 2018. "Social licence to operate and the granting of mineral rights in sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring tensions between communities, governments and multi-national mining companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 95-103.
    14. Kathryn Tomlinson, 2017. "Oil and gas companies and the management of social and environmental impacts and issues: The evolution of the industry's approach," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-22, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Robert G. Boutilier & Kyle Bahr, 2020. "A Natural Language Processing Approach to Social License Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-12, October.
    16. Kathryn Tomlinson, 2017. "Oil and gas companies and the management of social and environmental impacts and issues: The evolution of the industry’s approach," WIDER Working Paper Series 022, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Camie Heleski & C. Jill Stowe & Julie Fiedler & Michael L. Peterson & Colleen Brady & Carissa Wickens & James N. MacLeod, 2020. "Thoroughbred Racehorse Welfare through the Lens of ‘Social License to Operate—With an Emphasis on a U.S. Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-23, February.
    18. António Mateus & Luís Martins, 2021. "Building a mineral-based value chain in Europe: the balance between social acceptance and secure supply," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 34(2), pages 239-261, July.
    19. Frederiksen, Tomas, 2018. "Corporate social responsibility, risk and development in the mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 495-505.
    20. Jingchen Zhao & Xiaoming Lu & Wangwei Lin, 2022. "Promoting Corporate Extraterritorial Sustainable Responsibility through the Lens of Social Licence to Operate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-18, June.
    21. Stephen Pryke & Sulafa Badi & Lena Bygballe, 2017. "Editorial for the special issue on social networks in construction," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(8-9), pages 445-454, September.
    22. Bice, Sara & Brueckner, Martin & Pforr, Christof, 2017. "Putting social license to operate on the map: A social, actuarial and political risk and licensing model (SAP Model)," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 46-55.
    23. Santiago, Ana Lúcia & Demajorovic, Jacques & Rossetto, Dennys Eduardo & Luke, Hanabeth, 2021. "Understanding the fundamentals of the Social Licence to Operate: Its evolution, current state of development and future avenues for research," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

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