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A long period of capitalist crisis has amplified uneven and combined development in most aspects of political economy and political ecology in most parts of the world, with a resulting increase in the eco-social metabolism of profit-seeking firms and their state supporters. This is especially with the revival of extraction-oriented corporations, especially fossil fuel firms, which remain the world’s most profitable. What opportunities arise for as multi-faceted a critique of “extractivism” as the conditions demand? With ongoing paralysis of United Nations climate negotiators, to illustrate, the most critical question for several decades to come is whether citizen activism can forestall further fossil fuel combustion. In many settings, the extractive industries are critical targets of climate activists, for example, where divestment of stocks is one strategy, or refusing access to land for mining is another. Invoking climate justice principles requires investigating the broader socio-ecological and economic costs and benefits of capital accumulation associated with fossil fuel use, through forceful questioning both by immediate victims and by all those concerned about GreenHouse Gas emissions. Their solidarity with each other is vital to nurture and to that end, the most powerful anti-corporate tactic developed so far, indeed beginning in South Africa during the anti-apartheid struggle, appears to be financial sanctions. The argumentation for invoking sanctions against the fossil fuel industry (and its enablers such as international shipping) is by itself insufficient. Also required is a solid activist tradition. There are, in 2014, two inter-related cases in which South African environmental justice activists have critiqued multi-billion dollar investments, and thus collided with the state, with two vast parastatal corporations and with their international financiers. Whether these collisions move beyond conflicting visions, and actually halt the fossil-intensive projects, is a matter that can only be worked out both through argumentation – for example, in the pages below – and through gaining the solidarity required to halt the financing of climate change.

Purpose – To review the performance and growth of mining industry in India against current global vision and trend of the industrial growth internationally. Also, to evolve the strategic policy for evaluating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme initiatives taken by the Indian mining industry at large as well as the impacts thereof, with special reference to affected and most vulnerable mining belts in India.Design/methodology/approach – An attempt has been made in the chapter to have a holistic sectoral review of the overall performance of the mining industry in India for the past one decade, as well as its claimed impact on improvement of ecological quality and socio-economic growth in the mining belts. The chapter reviews the state of the impact of ‘CSR’ initiatives and programmes on environment as well as the mining community in terms of stakeholders’ involvement and protection of rights in developing socio-economic business equity. The chapter also critically analyses the policy dimensions – including mining industry's operational framework, which can attribute towards developing future strategy for sustainable development of the mining industry at large, through evolving a series of reform processes, adequately backed up by innovative CSR policy and programme initiatives, together with well-defined implementation, monitoring, evaluation strategies and standards.Findings – The mining industries in India have a huge potential for growth to support the other industries for which bulk of the raw materials are derived from this industrial segment. Several research and developmental studies conducted by different organisations spread across the globe have convincingly been able to link the prospect of industrial growth and long-term sustainability with the stakeholders’ participatory and proactive roles along with those of the industry for holistic and integrated socio-economic development of the mining areas. This has been possible through careful designing of the CSR programmes and initiatives by several mining companies in India (with varying degree of success and failures) with close monitoring and performance evaluation of the impact of the programmes in ecological, economical and sustainability terms against certain pre-designed standards. Such standards – as they are constantly evolving – should inter alia include ethical and transparency dimensions to ensure total involvement of the local community in the mining-affected areas. Proper compensation mechanisms and socio-economic growth of the mining community will not only improve productivity, but will also take care of ecological and economic safeguard of the mined coal blocks that are highly vulnerable to ecological degradation and economic exploitation. As for future strategy for sustainable industrial growth of the mining industry in India, there should be constant monitoring and evaluation of the various provisions of the various Acts related to mining, minerals, metals, energy, power, environment, etc. that are constantly under review and reforms processes with a view to guiding the future strategy. International co-operation in the mining sector will go a long way for sustainable growth and development of the mining industry in India for boosting the economic growth of the country.Research limitations/implications – Future research on the theme should focus on identification of replicable and sustainable model of CSR practices in the mining industry by developing illustrative business models on the basis of global experiences. Sustainability reporting and identification of better qualitative as well as quantitative parameters, tools and techniques to study the impact of CSR practices on the socio-economic growth of the affected mining community should be the focus of future research.Social implications – The findings (serving as messages) of this piece of research will certainly have an impact on society. This in turn, will, hopefully influence public attitudes, and by implications, it will also influence (corporate) social responsibility or environmental issues.Originality/value of the chapter – The chapter is innovative and, among other things, addresses some of recently reported burning issues affecting the interests of the mining industry on one hand, and the national economy of the affected countries on the other.

How did Japan rise to challenge the U.S. economic supremacy? We argue that the foundation of Japan's rise from a defeated nation in 1945 to an economic powerhouse is the raw materials that Japanese firms have turned into cars, ships, consumer electronics, and of other industrial products. A small island nation that lacked adequate domestic supplies of virtually all the raw materials essential to industrial production became a world leader in the production of steel and of products which required millions of tons per year of raw materials. Japanese firms and the Japanese state turned an apparent material and economic disadvantage, the need to import large volumes of raw materials, into a competitive advantage over the U.S., Europe, and the rest of the world economy by driving down the cost of importing raw materials over long distances. We argue that the strategies of Japanese firms and the Japanese state to resolve the problems of procuring bulk cheaply and reliably from multiple distant locales drove the technical and organizational innovations that underlay Japan's rapid industrial development and restructured the world economy in support of Japan's development. Contrary to claims that globalization supercedes the national state, we find that the actions of the Japanese state, in coordination with firms and industry sectors, were crucial in developing and applying these strategies. The linchpin of these strategies were the MIDAs (Maritime Industrial Development Areas) built on land reclaimed by the Japanese state. This economic success in Japan was also critically dependent on the extraction of billions of dollars of wealth from its raw materials peripheries, most notably Australia, Brazil, and Canada.

Many jurisdictions fine illegal cartels using penalty guidelines that presume an arbitrary 10% overcharge. This article surveys more than 700 published economic studies and judicial decisions that contain 2,041 quantitative estimates of overcharges of hard-core cartels. The primary findings are: (1) the median average long-run overcharge for all types of cartels over all time periods is 23.0%; (2) the mean average is at least 49%; (3) overcharges reached their zenith in 1891–1945 and have trended downward ever since; (4) 6% of the cartel episodes are zero; (5) median overcharges of international-membership cartels are 38% higher than those of domestic cartels; (6) convicted cartels are on average 19% more effective at raising prices as unpunished cartels; (7) bid-rigging conduct displays 25% lower markups than price-fixing cartels; (8) contemporary cartels targeted by class actions have higher overcharges; and (9) when cartels operate at peak effectiveness, price changes are 60–80% higher than the whole episode. Historical penalty guidelines aimed at optimally deterring cartels are likely to be too low.

This case study of the State of Qatar examines government educational policy and economic development in Qatar’s strategy to diversify its oil and gas-based economy into knowledge production. Qatar presents a particularly interesting case since its substantial investments in the past decade in education, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), research and development (R&D), and coastal development and tourism are all highly intertwined both in practice and from a national policy perspective. Armed with billions of dollars of sovereign wealth funds (SWF) from its gas and oil industries, the government of Qatar has embarked on both domestic and overseas investment campaigns including education, sports, internet and telecommunications, healthcare, overseas land purchases (food security), cultural institutions and museums, increased desalinated water capacity, and coastal development and tourism projects. Education and research, most notably Qatar Foundation’s Education City, Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), and the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), stand at the heart of Qatar’s investment in human development and long-term economic and social sustainability. Despite large outlays in knowledge economy initiatives, the country, however, is facing significant challenges in rapid population growth, reliance on expatriate labor for its skilled labor needs, an underdeveloped education system, and an undiversified economy which revolves around hydrocarbon rents.