A complex and contradictory new form of development has emerged in Angola: corporate-sponsored development. Scholars and activists have lamented the country's 'petro-capitalist' paradox of windfall revenues generated by a production rate of over one million barrels per day where human development indicators are among the lowest in the world. Two years after the end of a three-decade civil war in Angola, the government is decreasing rather than increasing social spending and continuing to shirk transparency standards requisite to consideration for multilateral funding. At the same time, transnational oil corporations operating in Angola are building schools, providing AIDS education, funding small business development, and distributing agricultural seeds and tools. This research project will examine the structure and character of corporate-sponsored development and the changing influence of transnational pressures for corporate responsibility, Angolan government demands for corporate contributions to rebuild the war-torn country, and requests generated from communities living within or near the site of extraction. Quantitative data sets from Angolan government documents and corporate reports tracking oil production and profits against investments will elucidate the structure and character of these contributions to development. Complementary ethnographic case studies centering on corporate-sponsored development in two communities in different oil-producing provinces will reveal the influence of disparate histories of violence, pollution and political repression on corporate initiatives. Narratives of community members will explore the possible contradictions inherent in the corporate-sponsored development model wherein the same corporations playing the role of benefactor may threaten human health or resource-based livelihoods in the time of an oil spill or gas leak. This study will demonstrate how communities respond to the corporate rhetoric on responsibility and make corresponding claims on corporations for development.
Given shrinking state development budgets in the context of neoliberal reforms, this study will provide timely insights into the changing role of corporations in international development. The restructuring of international assistance in the United States to redirect the lion's share of development funds to countries with good governance through the Milennium Challenge Account and the creation of public-private partnerships through USAID's Global Development Alliance offers corporations a central role in development in countries excluded from MCA funding like Angola. By investigating the complex relations between resource-dependent communities, petro-states and transnational extractive corporations, this project will provide insight into the dynamics of the new corporate-sponsored development model and explore the ways local people might leverage corporate interests to their benefit.
