scholarly journals State, company, and community relations at the Polaris mine (Nunavut)

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Green

Abstract Inuit employment in the mining industry has received very little attention from historians, although mining has been in the Arctic since the 1950s. Using the Polaris mine (1982-2002) on Little Cornwallis Island, Nunavut, as a case study, this article focuses on the Canadian government’s shift away from supporting mining developments in the late 1970s to early 1980s, on Inuit employment in the mining industry, and on the difficulties of Inuit from Resolute Bay in obtaining employment at Polaris. Previous to Polaris, the federal government saw Arctic mines, particularly Rankin Inlet (1951-1962) and Nanisivik (1976-2002), as a path to modernisation for the Inuit. However, as these earlier Arctic mines failed in this particular goal, the State became disillusioned and weary of providing financial support by the time Cominco began planning the Polaris mine in 1973. The federal government did not require Cominco to sign a formal agreement for Inuit employment, leaving the company responsible to develop its own hiring agenda. Unfortunately for the people of Resolute Bay, the company agenda did not include hiring locals as a priority, and bypassed and marginalised Resolute Bay Inuit who were keen on working at the mine. As mining has been the largest industry in the Canadian northern economy and is currently growing and beginning new development projects, it is important to understand the historical dynamics between mining companies, the State, and local communities.

Author(s):  
Emma Marinie Ahmad Zawawi ◽  
◽  
Wan Hasmirah Wan Ibrahim ◽  

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is compulsory in all types of new development. EIA is important to ensure that biological diversity is maintained and that development will not have any affect on the people and other species in that area. The aim of this study is to investigate the environmental impact on human wellbeing in the vicinity of quarrying. It will increase the awareness of the local population of the important factors that might affect the quality of their lives. A set of questionnaires was distributed to the community at Bandar Saujana Putra and Taman Kajang Perdana, in Selangor. A total of 60 residents were involved in the study. The results reveal that the community was concerned about health conditions and safety. However, there is still a lack of strategies to mitigate the problem. This study provides suggestions for mitigation that could be considered by the residents to reduce the effect of poor air quality caused by incorrect control and monitoring of activities in the area. It is anticipated that this study could assist both residents and authorities in improving the quality of the air as well as the residents’ quality of life.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (0) ◽  
pp. 190
Author(s):  
Helge Blakkisrud

After a period of relative neglect in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Arctic is back on the agenda of the Russian authorities. To ensure efficient coordination and implementation of its Arctic strategy, the government in 2015 established a State Commission for Arctic Development. It was to serve as a platform for coordinating the implementation of the government’s ambitious plans for the Arctic, for exchange of information among Arctic actors, and for ironing out interagency and interregional conflicts. Based on a case study of the State Commission for Arctic Development, this article has a twofold goal. First, it explores the current Russian domestic Arctic agenda, mapping key actors and priorities and examining the results achieved so far. Second, it discusses what this case study may tell us the about policy formulation and implementation in Russia today. We find that while the government’s renewed focus on the Arctic Zone has yielded some impressive results, the State Commission has been at best a mixed success. The case study demonstrates how, in the context of authoritarian modernization, the Russian government struggles to come up with effective and efficient institutions for Arctic governance. Moreover, the widespread image of a Russian governance model based on a strictly hierarchic “power vertical” must be modified. Russia’s Arctic policy agenda is characterized by infighting and bureaucratic obstructionism: even when Putin intervenes personally, achieving the desired goals can prove difficult.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Oman Sukmana

The domination of the state (government) and Corporate (PT LBI) in the oil and gas resource management lead Lapindo mudflow disaster that caused misery to the people. This study aims to assess the forms of domination and injustice by the state (government) and the corporation in the case of Lapindo mudflow disaster, and how Lapindo mudflow disaster victims negotiate (resist) against the state (government) and corporations in an effort to fight for their rights. This study used a qualitative approach with case study. Subjects and informantsresearch include: (1) Lapindo mudflow disaster victims; (2) group coordinator of Lapindo mudflow disaster victims; (3) Public figures Siring village, Tanggulangin, Renokenongo, Jabon, and Jatirejo, Porong district, Sidoarjo; (4) Representation of the corporation (PT. LBI); and (5) Representation of BPLS. The data collection process using the in-deepth interviews, observation, focus group discussions, and review documents. Stage processing and data analysis includes the coding process, memoing, and concept mapping. The results showed that the government (the state) and the corporation (PT LBI) action dominating the oil and gas resource management in the area of Porong district, Sidoarjo regency, East Java, resulting misery for the victims (people). Forms of injustice felt by residents Lapindo mudflow disaster victims not only related to the issue of compensation for land and building assets alone, but more than that, including various dimensions. Through a variety of collective action, such as demonstrations and negotiations, Lapindo mudflow disaster victims filed various charges, such as demands for payment of compensation for land and building assets destroyed.


Author(s):  
R. Kelso

Australia is a nation of 20 million citizens occupying approximately the same land mass as the continental U.S. More than 80% of the population lives in the state capitals where the majority of state and federal government offices and employees are based. The heavily populated areas on the Eastern seaboard, including all of the six state capitals have advanced ICT capability and infrastructure and Australians readily adopt new technologies. However, there is recognition of a digital divide which corresponds with the “great dividing” mountain range separating the sparsely populated arid interior from the populated coastal regions (Trebeck, 2000). A common theme in political commentary is that Australians are “over-governed” with three levels of government, federal, state, and local. Many of the citizens living in isolated regions would say “over-governed” and “underserviced.” Most of the state and local governments, “… have experienced difficulties in managing the relative dis-economies of scale associated with their small and often scattered populations.” Rural and isolated regions are the first to suffer cutbacks in government services in periods of economic stringency. (O’Faircheallaigh, Wanna, & Weller, 1999, p. 98). Australia has, in addition to the Commonwealth government in Canberra, two territory governments, six state governments, and about 700 local governments. All three levels of government, federal, state, and local, have employed ICTs to address the “tyranny of distance” (Blainey, 1967), a term modified and used for nearly 40 years to describe the isolation and disadvantage experienced by residents in remote and regional Australia. While the three levels of Australian governments have been working co-operatively since federation in 1901 with the federal government progressively increasing its power over that time, their agencies and departments generally maintain high levels of separation; the Queensland Government Agent Program is the exception.


Author(s):  
Laura Thaut Vinson

This chapter explores the problem of rising pastoralist–farmer and ethnic (religious and tribal) violence in the pluralistic Middle Belt region of Nigeria over the past thirty to forty years. In particular, it highlights the underlying issues and conflicts associated with these different categories of communal intergroup violence, the human and material costs of such conflict, and the broader implications for the Nigerian state. The federal government, states, local governments. and communities have not been passive in addressing the considerable challenges associated with preventing and resolving such conflicts. It is clear, however, that they face significant hurdles in resolving the underlying grievances and drivers of conflict, and their efforts have not always furthered the cause of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Greater attention to patterns of inclusion and exclusion and to the allocation of rights and resources will be necessary, particularly at the state and local government levels, to create a more stable and peaceful Middle Belt.


Significance Some hard-right members of the Republican congressional caucus argue that allowing federal spending to lapse and threatening a government shutdown could force legislators to approve steep cuts to the federal bureaucracy. As congressional factions, leaders and President Donald Trump’s administration weigh in on government spending, debates about the appropriate scope of federal agencies and programmes are likely to feature prominently. Impacts Costly entitlement programmes are unlikely to be targeted for cuts owing to their popularity. Congressional allies of USAID will block Trump’s plan to consolidate it into the State Department. Empty executive branch-appointed positions will hinder the effective functioning of the federal government. The proposed abolition of the state and local tax deduction for federal taxes will place pressure on sub-national government programmes.


1973 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lysbeth W. Muncy

In the last analysis Prussia is ruled by theLandräte.” Such was the opinion of Georg Gothein in 1910. His judgment, which was corroborated by other observers of the Prussian scene, reflects the singular influence of theLandratin the government of Prussia, an influence which derived from his being both the Prussian official who governed the rural population for the state and the head of the self-government of the ruralKreisor county. His unique dual position gave him extraordinary opportunities for influence and initiative and for the co-ordinating and reconciling of state and local interests. Although low in the hierarchy of higher administrative officials, the more than 450 Landräte, charged with the actual administration of the countryside, were key figures in that formidable Hohenzollern institution, the Prussian bureaucracy, which may be said to have governed Prussia before 1918. In the last years of the Prussian monarchy theLandratsamtwas renowned as the most powerful and the most desirable post in the Prussian administration, short of the top-ranking offices. It was the most coveted. It was also the most criticized.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kenneth White

Donald Trump’s presidency is likely to become what Stephen Skowronek once labeled as a “disjunctive presidency.”  Trump’s election in 2016 and the issue positions he has taken mark the end of the Reagan Era.  Just as Jimmy Carter’s one-term signaled the end of the New Deal era begun by Franklin D. Roosevelt, so, too, does Trump’s already troubled presidency signify the end of Reagan’s conservatism. Changing demographics have hastened the end of the Reagan era, and the next presidential contest is likely to be one that James David Barber called a “politics as conscience,” not a conflict election to which Trump was well-suited.  Trump’s victory, along with the end of the Reagan era, also signals a moment of significant danger for the Republican Party, despite the present unified GOP control of the federal government and recent gains that the party has made at the state and local levels.


2008 ◽  
pp. 2439-2451
Author(s):  
Robert Kelso

Australia is a nation of 20 million citizens occupying approximately the same land mass as the continental U.S. More than 80% of the population lives in the state capitals where the majority of state and federal government offices and employees are based. The heavily populated areas on the Eastern seaboard, including all of the six state capitals have advanced ICT capability and infrastructure and Australians readily adopt new technologies. However, there is recognition of a digital divide which corresponds with the “great dividing” mountain range separating the sparsely populated arid interior from the populated coastal regions (Trebeck, 2000). A common theme in political commentary is that Australians are “over-governed” with three levels of government, federal, state, and local. Many of the citizens living in isolated regions would say “over-governed” and “underserviced.” Most of the state and local governments, “… have experienced difficulties in managing the relative dis-economies of scale associated with their small and often scattered populations.” Rural and isolated regions are the first to suffer cutbacks in government services in periods of economic stringency. (O’Faircheallaigh, Wanna, & Weller, 1999, p. 98). Australia has, in addition to the Commonwealth government in Canberra, two territory governments, six state governments, and about 700 local governments. All three levels of government, federal, state, and local, have employed ICTs to address the “tyranny of distance” (Blainey, 1967), a term modified and used for nearly 40 years to describe the isolation and disadvantage experienced by residents in remote and regional Australia. While the three levels of Australian governments have been working co-operatively since federation in 1901 with the federal government progressively increasing its power over that time, their agencies and departments generally maintain high levels of separation; the Queensland Government Agent Program is the exception.


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