Investigating the Differential Politics of Transparency and Accountability in the Extractive Industries: A Comparison of Ghana’s Mining and Hydrocarbon Sectors

Abstract

This thesis investigates the differential adoption and enforcement of transparency and accountability (T&A) mechanisms in governing extractives. Questioning why levels of T&A adoption and enforcement tend to differ across extractive industries, the thesis explains the politics involved, using Ghana’s mining and hydrocarbon industries as comparative case studies. I drew on 51 semi-structured interviews supported by secondary documents and thematically analysed and triangulated the data collected. The thesis deploys a power domains framework, which centres the role of political settlements in conjunction with policy domains, to explain the deeper forms of politics at both the macro (national) and meso level (industries) that characterise T&A adoption and enforcement in each extractive industry. To help offer further insights into adoption processes, I employ the policy translation concept to explain how globalised policy agendas are negotiated within national political and policy contexts. This conceptual framework helps me to investigate how the differential nature of materiality, actors, institutional arrangements, interests and ideas across extractives shape adoption and enforcement across extractives, and to generate new insights into the differential T&A adoption and enforcement across different forms of extractives. I find that there is a fuller adoption of T&A in Ghana’s hydrocarbon industry compared to the mining industry. However, I also find that T&A adoption and enforcement differ within as well as across the extractive industries with higher levels in evidence at the revenue management compared to the licensing stage. The thesis argues that the adoption of T&A-enhancing institutions is shaped by electoral imperatives and rent-seeking opportunities, albeit as constrained by pro-T&A countervailing forces. On the other hand, T&A enforcement levels are shaped by the severity of the cost that ruling and bureaucratic elites stand to suffer if they do not adhere to T&A rules, and the strength of their interest and ideas in the governance aspect where T&A is being sought. These arguments highlight the significance of emphasising the differential politics across extractive industries in shaping T&A adoption and enforcement. The recommendations of the thesis are informed by these findings, including suggesting new ways of thinking about the promotion of T&A in extractive industries in developing countries.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Samuel Hickey (Supervisor) & Pritish Behuria (Supervisor)