Trust, mistrust and distrust as blind spots of Social Licence to Operate: illustration via three forerunner countries in nuclear waste management
The notion of social licence to operate (SLO) has become a widely applied concept for companies in mining and resource extraction industries to manage their social and community relations, in the face of local criticism and opposition. SLO literature and practice have highlighted earning the trust of the local community as a key requirement for an SLO. This article addresses three weaknesses in how the current SLO literature addresses trust. The arguments are illustrated via examples from nuclear waste management in Finland, France and Sweden–three forerunners in implementing high-level nuclear waste repository projects. Nuclear waste management constitutes a relevant case for analysis, as …
Refining the preconditions of a social licence to operate (SLO) : reflections on citizens’ attitudes towards mining in two Finnish regions
The debate around the social licence to operate (SLO) has been lively in recent years. In its elementary forms, the SLO is interpreted as the social acceptance granted by a community to mineral exploration and mining activities. Our theoretical assumption is that the SLO as a concept is both case-specific and more general, contingent, among other things, upon public opinion. In this study, acceptance is considered as general and anticipatory in the sense that it can act as a precondition for individual SLOs. Our intention is to contribute especially to recent novel research focusing on the more general background and factors contributing to the SLO. Using survey data (N = 1064), we explore …
National level paths to the mining industry’s Social Licence to Operate (SLO) in Northern Europe: The case of Finland
Abstract Research on the social licence to operate (SLO) has traditionally focused on local communities directly affected by mining operations. There has been a lack of systematic research exploring attitudes to mining among the public at large. Based on a national survey (N = 1091) of Finns’ attitudes towards mining conducted in 2016, we test a theoretical model using path analysis to examine the factors affecting the social licence to operate (SLO) of mining in Finland. The aim is to shed light on the factors affecting SLO at national level in Finland and to add to the growing body of research seeking to understand the mining industry’s SLO at national level in diverse social, economic an…
Suomalaiset arvottamassa ydinvoima- ja uraanitaloutta : ydinvoima- ja uraanikaivosasenteiden tarkastelua moraalitaloudellisesta näkökulmasta
Sosiaalisen toimiluvan ehdot ja rajat : Uudenmaan, Pohjois-Karjalan, Kainuun ja Lapin maakuntien asukkaiden näkemykset kaivannaistoiminnan hyväksyttävyydestä
Esipuhe 1. Johdanto 8 2. Sosiaalinen hyväksyttävyys ja sosiaalinen toimilupa 23 3. Aineisto, menetelmät ja analyysi 39 4. Kaivannaistoiminnan hyväksyttävyys 65 5. Kaivannaistoiminnan hyväksyttävyys omassa asuinkunnassa taustamuuttujittain tarkasteltuna 79 6. Kaivannaishyväksynnän yhteys kaivostietämykseen, kaivosalan tuntemiseen, ympäristöasenteisiin ja kaivosnäkemyksiin 98 7. Luottamus lainsäädäntöön ja viranomaisiin sekä eri toimijoihin kaivostoiminnan asiantuntijoina 115 8. Maakunnittaiset erot luottamisessa eri toimijoihin asiantuntijoina 132 9. Luottamus ympäristölainsäädäntöön sekä viranomaisiin ja kaivannaistoiminnan hyväksyttävyys 140 10. Päätöksenteko ja kaivostoiminta 144 11. Res…
The roles of the state and social licence to operate? Lessons from nuclear waste management in Finland, France, and Sweden
The concept of social licence to operate (SLO) is an increasingly popular tool for companies to manage their relations with the local communities. SLO is very seldom used in the nuclear sector, which has nevertheless applied similar approaches, under notions such as partnership and participatory governance. This article explores the specific challenges that the application of SLO faces in the nuclear waste management (NWM) sector, by applying an often-used SLO framework of Boutilier and Thomson to illustrative case studies concerning nuclear waste repository projects in Finland, France and Sweden. Among the specificities of this sector, the article focuses on the central roles of the state …