ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role that extractive-sector transnational corporations (TNC) operating in conflict-prone zones can play in both perpetuating and preventing conflict. It offers an overview of policy and corporate responses and options. At the national or macro level, an extractive TNC will have a range of indirect impacts on conflict. At root, these relate to the fact that its investment often represents the major source of revenue in a context where institutions are weak and decision-making about use of such revenues constrained. This dynamic will affect issues such as human rights, corruption and wealth distribution, and can often lead to or fuel conflict. The positive potential of extractive TNCs to contribute to peace-building has, so far, received the least attention. By pursuing a goal of conflict-sensitivity, TNCs in the extractive sector can increasingly allow themselves to shift away from ‘fuelling the conflict’ to ‘oiling the peace’, thereby contributing to a more stable environment at both local and global levels.
