'Development Enterprise in Sub-Saharan Africa'

The Global Studies Seminar welcomes Susan Diduk presenting “The Political Economy of Corporate Largess: Social Responsibility, Corporations and the Development Enterprise in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Since the 1990s foreign direct investment has grown significantly in Sub-Saharan Africa. This growth is embedded in the neoliberal project with its push toward privatization, deregulation of markets, and capital accumulation. A growing, yet less visible sector in this process, concerns the new corporate social responsibility (CSR) agendas of transnational corporations (TNCs). This paper examines the growth of “development projects” funded by transnational business, for example, in areas like education, healthcare and potable water. Diduk consider’s such “community development” initiatives funded by TNCs and their interconnected relationships with the state, as well as local urban and rural communities in the Republic of Cameroon. I examine especially the intended and unintended effects of these policies, and their deeply troubling implications for “development encounters” more broadly.