Title: Mining and Social Movements: Struggles Over Livelihood and Rural Territorial Development in the Andes
Author/Institution:
• Anthony Bebbington & Denise Humphreys Bebbington — University of Manchester
• Jeffrey Bury — University of California, Santa Cruz
• Jeannet Lingan — Policy Studies Institute
• Juan Pablo Muñoz — Terranueva, Ecuador
• Martin Scurrah — Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales
Publication Year: 2008
Livelihoods as the Foundation of Social Legitimacy
Bebbington et al.’s research provides a seminal analysis of how mining reshapes rural territories in the Andes by transforming livelihoods, local economies, and power relations. Rather than treating mining’s social impacts as secondary to its economic contribution, the study places livelihoods at the center of territorial change. Through cases in Peru, Ecuador, and other Andean contexts, the authors show that mining alters access to land, labor opportunities, and local income strategies—often generating profound expectations among communities long before formal production begins. Social legitimacy, the study argues, emerges not simply from job creation, but from how mining reconfigures everyday economic life and future prospects in rural territories.
Employment, Inequality, and the Rise of Social Mobilization
Methodologically, the research combines long-term fieldwork with political economic analysis to examine why mining projects frequently trigger social movements despite offering employment and local spending. The authors demonstrate that while mining introduces wages and infrastructure into rural economies, it also produces uneven outcomes: employment may be temporary, outsourced, or inaccessible to local populations, while environmental and livelihood disruptions are broadly shared. These asymmetries help explain why communities mobilize not only against environmental risks, but around deeper concerns of distributive justice, territorial control, and exclusion from decision-making. Employment thus becomes a contested symbol—simultaneously a promise of inclusion and a reminder of unmet expectations.
Implications for License to Operate and Stakeholder Prosperity
The study carries direct implications for debates on License to Operate and prosperity, particularly in contexts where formal mining employment reaches record levels. Bebbington argues that employment contributes to social legitimacy only when embedded in broader territorial strategies that include workforce development, local enterprise participation, and long-term economic diversification. Otherwise, employment gains risk being viewed as temporary or extractive rather than transformative. In the context of Peru’s historic mining employment figures, the research reinforces a critical insight: jobs are a foundational component of social license, but turning employment into stakeholder prosperity requires deliberate institutional design, investment in human capital, and alignment between mining operations and regional development pathways.