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Policy, Participation and Empowerment: A Case Study of Community Resistance to Shells Seismic Blasting in the Eastern Cape

This research examines the conflict in South African government policy between a people-centred participatory rhetoric on the one hand, and neoliberal growth-centred rhetoric on the other; and how this has played out in the recent series of related court cases. The methodology employed was a case st...

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Main Author: Tomaselli, Charlize
Other Authors: De, Wet Jacques
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Sociology 2023
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access_status_str Open Access
author Tomaselli, Charlize
author2 De, Wet Jacques
author_browse De, Wet Jacques
Tomaselli, Charlize
author_facet De, Wet Jacques
Tomaselli, Charlize
author_sort Tomaselli, Charlize
collection Thesis
description This research examines the conflict in South African government policy between a people-centred participatory rhetoric on the one hand, and neoliberal growth-centred rhetoric on the other; and how this has played out in the recent series of related court cases. The methodology employed was a case study design based on the judgments in a series of related court cases (2021 – 2022) between local fisher communities of Dwesa Cebe, Port St. Johns and Kei River mouth in the Eastern Cape, South Africa; Sustaining the Wild Coast; and Natural Justice Attorneys versus Shell Corporation, Shellsubsidiaries and two South African Government ministers (Minerals, Petroleum and Energy, and Environment and Tourism). Thematic analysis was applied as the data analysis method. The conceptual framework utilised Jürgen Habermas' instrumental reasoning as a high-level framework and was operationalised through the heuristic modules of participation by Sherry Arnstein and Jules Pretty. The research makes the case that issues of public participation in this instance are a result of the different understandings and expectations of the required level of public participation between the opposing partiesin the series of court cases, namely the local fisher community1 and Shell Corporation together with Government. The claim is that this is largely a result of the conflicting and sometimes opposing policy rhetoric within government policy. I focus on conflicting elements within the National Environmental Management Act and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act in this case study. The findings underscore the central importance of appropriate levels of public participation, as protected by the South African Constitution, in the process of Exploration Right Applications in order to highlight conflict between different stakeholders.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Department of Sociology
publisherStr Department of Sociology
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38189 Policy, Participation and Empowerment: A Case Study of Community Resistance to Shells Seismic Blasting in the Eastern Cape Tomaselli, Charlize De, Wet Jacques Sociology This research examines the conflict in South African government policy between a people-centred participatory rhetoric on the one hand, and neoliberal growth-centred rhetoric on the other; and how this has played out in the recent series of related court cases. The methodology employed was a case study design based on the judgments in a series of related court cases (2021 – 2022) between local fisher communities of Dwesa Cebe, Port St. Johns and Kei River mouth in the Eastern Cape, South Africa; Sustaining the Wild Coast; and Natural Justice Attorneys versus Shell Corporation, Shellsubsidiaries and two South African Government ministers (Minerals, Petroleum and Energy, and Environment and Tourism). Thematic analysis was applied as the data analysis method. The conceptual framework utilised Jürgen Habermas' instrumental reasoning as a high-level framework and was operationalised through the heuristic modules of participation by Sherry Arnstein and Jules Pretty. The research makes the case that issues of public participation in this instance are a result of the different understandings and expectations of the required level of public participation between the opposing partiesin the series of court cases, namely the local fisher community1 and Shell Corporation together with Government. The claim is that this is largely a result of the conflicting and sometimes opposing policy rhetoric within government policy. I focus on conflicting elements within the National Environmental Management Act and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act in this case study. The findings underscore the central importance of appropriate levels of public participation, as protected by the South African Constitution, in the process of Exploration Right Applications in order to highlight conflict between different stakeholders. 2023-07-30T08:39:00Z 2023-07-30T08:39:00Z 2023 2023-07-30T08:38:26Z Master Thesis Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38189 eng application/pdf Department of Sociology Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Sociology
Tomaselli, Charlize
Policy, Participation and Empowerment: A Case Study of Community Resistance to Shells Seismic Blasting in the Eastern Cape
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Policy, Participation and Empowerment: A Case Study of Community Resistance to Shells Seismic Blasting in the Eastern Cape
title_full Policy, Participation and Empowerment: A Case Study of Community Resistance to Shells Seismic Blasting in the Eastern Cape
title_fullStr Policy, Participation and Empowerment: A Case Study of Community Resistance to Shells Seismic Blasting in the Eastern Cape
title_full_unstemmed Policy, Participation and Empowerment: A Case Study of Community Resistance to Shells Seismic Blasting in the Eastern Cape
title_short Policy, Participation and Empowerment: A Case Study of Community Resistance to Shells Seismic Blasting in the Eastern Cape
title_sort policy participation and empowerment a case study of community resistance to shells seismic blasting in the eastern cape
topic Sociology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38189
work_keys_str_mv AT tomasellicharlize policyparticipationandempowermentacasestudyofcommunityresistancetoshellsseismicblastingintheeasterncape