Corporate sovereignty: Negotiating permissive power for profit in Southern Africa

IF 1.1 2区 社会学 Q2 ANTHROPOLOGY
T. Diphoorn, N. Wiegink
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

The growing engagement with sovereignty in anthropology has resulted in a range of concepts that encapsulate how various (non-state) actors execute power. In this paper, we further unpack the concept of ‘corporate sovereignty’ and outline its conceptual significance. Corporate sovereignty refers to performative claims to power undertaken by (individuals aligned to) corporate entities with profit-making objectives within a state-sanctioned space. This contrasts with claims made by other (non-state) actors who operate in a permissive space that (regularly) lacks this legally grounded relationship with the state. By unpacking this state-sanctioned permissive space and highlighting the role of the state as the arbiter, our approach to corporate sovereignty offers a new comparative analytical perspective to theorize how sovereignty is performed and opens ethnographic avenues to explore how sovereignty is negotiated and co-produced across diverse localities. To elucidate our argument, we draw from ethnographic fieldwork conducted on coal mining companies in Mozambique and private security companies in South Africa. By focusing on cases that differ, we want to show the multitude of ways in which corporate sovereignty is enacted and takes shape.
企业主权:南部非洲为利润而谈判的许可权
人类学中越来越多地涉及主权,产生了一系列概念,概括了各种(非国家)行为者如何执行权力。在本文中,我们对“公司主权”的概念进行了进一步的解读,并概述了其概念意义。公司主权是指在国家批准的空间内,以营利为目标的公司实体(与之结盟的个人)对权力的表现性主张。这与其他(非国家)行为者的说法形成了鲜明对比,他们在一个(经常)缺乏与国家的法律关系的宽松空间中运作。通过打开这个国家批准的宽松空间,并强调国家作为仲裁者的作用,我们对企业主权的方法提供了一个新的比较分析视角,以理论化主权是如何行使的,并开辟了民族志途径,以探索主权是如何在不同地区谈判和共同产生的。为了阐明我们的论点,我们借鉴了对莫桑比克煤矿公司和南非私营安保公司进行的民族志实地调查。通过关注不同的案例,我们想展示公司主权的制定和形成的多种方式。
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来源期刊
Anthropological Theory
Anthropological Theory ANTHROPOLOGY-
CiteScore
3.20
自引率
0.00%
发文量
16
期刊介绍: Anthropological Theory is an international peer reviewed journal seeking to strengthen anthropological theorizing in different areas of the world. This is an exciting forum for new insights into theoretical issues in anthropology and more broadly, social theory. Anthropological Theory publishes articles engaging with a variety of theoretical debates in areas including: * marxism * feminism * political philosophy * historical sociology * hermeneutics * critical theory * philosophy of science * biological anthropology * archaeology
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