The changing roles of the state and transnational corporations in the development of mining in Zambia : an evaluation of influences on the transition from state to private ownership of the mining sector

摘要

This dissertation principally analyses: (i) the privatisation of Zambia’s copper mines;ud(ii) the impact of state and private ownership and control of the mines on development;udand (iii) the roles of mining TNCs in the Zambian economy. The research covers theudperiod from independence in 1964 to 2006/7, but mainly focuses on the 1991 to 2006/7udperiod. The validity of several neo-classical theoretical views and counter-argumentsudpertaining to the social and economic benefits of privatisation and the private ownershipudand the activities of mining TNCs is tested in the mining sector study. The methodologyudis based on a case study comprising fieldwork and literature research, utilising audqualitative approach and an inductive method. The conclusions of the study couldudenhance knowledge from which other developing countries intent on privatising theirudSOEs could draw, as privatisation studies of sub-Saharan countries have mostlyudoverlooked analyses of the social impact of the private ownership of enterprises. Keyudfindings of the study are that the privatisation and private ownership of the mines byudTNCs have failed to produce net positive socio-economic outcomes for Zambia.udFurthermore, under private ownership of the mines, the political-economic benefitsudhave shifted, mainly concentrating the surpluses from mining in favour of miningudTNCs. The primary recommendations from the study are that certain measures, inudparticular a strong state capacity, are fundamental in enabling greater and moreudequitable redistribution of benefits for the country from privatisation, private ownershipudand the economic activities of mining TNCs.