• Linkedin
  • Twitter
  • Rss

Oil, Gas & Energy Law

Skip navigation

Oil, Gas & Energy Law

Global Energy Law & Regulation Portal

Join OGELFORUM

Oil, Gas & Energy Law

Global Energy Law & Regulation Portal

  • Sign in
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • Sign in
  • About About
    1. Home
    2. About
    3. About OGEL
    4. About OGEL
    5. Founding Editor T.W. Wälde
    6. T.W. Wälde
    7. Editorial team
    8. Editorial team
    9. Contributing Authors
    10. Contributing Authors
    11. Subscriptions
    12. Subscriptions
  • Journal Journal
    1. Home
    2. Journal
    3. Browse Issues
    4. Browse
    5. Articles by Category
    6. By Category
    7. Articles by Author
    8. By Author
    9. Advance publication
    10. Advance publication
    11. Specials
    12. Specials
    13. Search
    14. Search
    15. Book reviews
    16. Reviews
  • Legal & Regulatory docs. L & R docs
    1. Home
    2. Legal & Regulatory docs.
    3. L&R by Country
    4. L&R by Country
    5. L&R by Category
    6. L&R by Category
    7. L&R recent additions
    8. L&R recent additions
    9. Search
    10. Search
  • OGELFORUM OGELFORUM
    1. Home
    2. OGELFORUM
    3. About OGELFORUM
    4. About OGELFORUM
    5. Browse archive
    6. Browse by date / topic
    7. Search
    8. Search
    9. Join
    10. Join
  • News & Events Events
    1. Home
    2. News & Events
    3. News
    4. News
    5. Events
    6. Events
  • OGEL Studies OGEL Studies
    1. Home
    2. OGEL Studies
    3. About OGEL Studies
    4. About OGEL Studies
  • Subscribe
Home > Journal > Advance publication

Getting a Social License: Enough to Catch the Elusive Ghost in Town?

  • Sign in
  • Suggested citation
F. Brugger
F. Brugger

Published 11 July 2019

Abstract

Natural resource extraction is a disruptive and inherently conflictual business. For the communities surrounding extractive operations, everything from livelihood opportunities to the visual landscape changes. For the mining company, costly business interruptions can occur when local populations take to the street over dashed expectations. To mitigate the risk of conflict and ensure operational stability, an increasing number of extractive companies seek a ‘social license to operate’ (SLO) from local communities. SLO theory posits that the quality of relations between the mining company and the surrounding communities are a reliable predictor of whether there will be peaceful cohabitation that allows smooth operations or whether there is the risk of confrontation with deleterious consequences for resource extraction. Although SLO began as a risk management approach of mining practitioners, it has evolved into a theory on its own right in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) scholarship. We analyse both the conceptualization and use of “relations” and of “conflict” in the SLO theory from a socio-political perspective. We find a simplistic understanding of relational dynamics and of conflict, which constrains the explanatory power of the SLO theory, weakening its ability to serve as a guide towards meaningful engagement with local realities. The functionalist perspective on the community-company relationship severely limits the ability of company managers to properly understand complex local dynamics. 

This paper will be part of the OGEL Special Issue on "Social Licence to Operate (SLO) in the Extractive and Energy Sectors". More information here www.ogel.org/news.asp?key=571

To read this article you need to be a subscriber

Sign in

Forgot password?

Sign in

Subscribe

Fill in the registration form and answer a few simple questions to receive a quote.

Subscribe now

Suggested Citation

F. Brugger (2019, forthcoming) "Getting a Social License: Enough to Catch the Elusive Ghost in Town?"
(OGEL, ISSN 1875-418X) July 2019, www.ogel.org

"Advance publication" is the name given to material that is published ahead of its appearance in a regular structured issue of our Journal. It is also possible to monitor this via RSS. Subscribers will receive update alerts via e-mail of the published articles as soon as they have been added to the website.

Other recently published material:

Good Oil, Clean Waters? Ghana's Oil Decade and Environmental Protection

16 December 2020

The Hydrogen Hope? Challenges and Opportunities for an Australian Hydrogen Industry

15 December 2020

Taxonomy Regulation, Principle of Technological Neutrality and Delegated Acts - Does the Draft Screening Regulation Comply with EU Law Requirements?

14 December 2020

Now available in OGEL 5 (2020): What Should be the ESG Preconditions to Development of the Cyprus Gas Fields?

10 December 2020

Well-Trodden Path for International Arbitration Use in Ukrainian Gas Transportation Sphere

4 December 2020

Complete listing of Advance publication.

Call for contributions

OGEL Call for Papers: COVID-19 and the Energy Transition

Dr. Theophilus Acheampong and Professor Tina Soliman Hunter

  • Dr. Theophilus Acheampong
  • Prof. Tina Hunter

OGEL Call for Papers: Law and Policy for Gas Flaring in a Low-carbon Economy

Dr. Tade Oyewunmi and Mohamed Rali Badissy

  • Dr. Tade Oyewunmi
  • Mohamed Rali Badissy

OGEL Call for Papers: The Circular Economy and the Energy Transition

Dr. Maria R. Mazzanti and Giacomo Luciani

OGEL Call for Papers

OGEL Call for Papers: The Hydrogen Economy

Dr. C. Kelly, Dr. M. Wüstenberg, Dr. S.L. Penttinen, Prof. K. Talus

  • Dr. Cameron Kelly
  • Dr. Moritz Wüstenberg
  • Dr. Sirja-Leena Penttinen
  • Prof. Kim Talus

OGEL Call for Papers: Review of the Energy Sector in Ghana

Victoria Ayensu

  • Victoria Ayensu

OGEL Call for Papers: Special Issue on Energy Transitions 2020

Nana Asare Obeng-Darko

  • Nana Asare Obeng-Darko
  • More
  • Contribute

Stay connected

Sign up for our email alerts.

  • Issues
  • Advance publication
  • News
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter
  • RSS

Join the debate

Want to join OGELFORUM, our unique platform for oil, gas and energy issues?

Simply fill in the registration form to start your trial membership.

Download the app

  1. App store
  2. Google play

The Oil, Gas & Energy Law Intelligence (OGEL, ISSN 1875-418X) Journal and OGELFORUM listserv focus on recent developments in the area of oil, gas, energy law, regulation, treaties, judicial and arbitral cases, voluntary guidelines, tax and contracting, including the oil, gas, energy geopolitics. Read our Terms & Conditions here, and our Privacy Policy here.

About OGEL

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Contribute
  • Subscriptions
  • Contact
  • Help

Other publications

  • Transnational Dispute Management (TDM)

© 2004 - 2021. Published by MARIS.

  • Home
  • Contribute
  • Subscriptions
  • Contact
  • Help