Semester of Graduation
Spring 2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. International Conflict Management
Department
School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Brandon D. Lundy
Second Advisor
Darina Lepadatu
Third Advisor
Akamu Adebayo
Abstract
Extractive conflicts between Indigenous or mining-affected communities and multinational mining companies in Ghana have persisted across Ghana’s mineral-rich regions, claiming lives, destroying property, and causing millions of dollars in losses. Existing scholarship has examined these conflicts through a single-dimensional analytical lens, such as political influences, territorial struggles, and economic factors. While single-dimensional analysis offers important insights, it fails to account for why interventions struggle to resolve conflicts. This dissertation developed the Political Ecology of Resource Extraction Model (PEREM), a six-dimensional analytical framework for examining how historical, political, economic, environmental, social/cultural, and development/corporate social responsibility factors intersect to generate and perpetuate conflicts in Ghana’s gold mining ecosystem.
The study employed a qualitative approach, through semi-structured interviews (virtual and face-to-face) and focus group discussions. Between 2023 and 2025, 68 participants were engaged, including traditional authorities, government officials, civil society organizations, and company officials. MaxQDA software was used for data analysis, generating 1,708 coded texts from transcripts across the six PEREM dimensions. The unit of analysis was meaningful text segments from interviews and FGDs, ranging from single sentences to multiple paragraphs, containing content relevant to any of PEREM’s six dimensions, and were coded to one or more dimensions.
The findings show that mining conflicts emerge from multidimensional convergence, rather than single-dimensional causes. Five interactive patterns were identified: historical-political; political-economic; economic-social/cultural; environmental-development/CSR, and social/cultural-environmental. Specific mechanisms, including state coercion through militarization and the securitization of mining-affected communities, operate proactively to enforce economic marginalization; colonial-era laws persist through political maintenance; companies fragment traditional governance systems, and environmental injustices, coupled with development/CSR failures, create multifaceted grievances. PEREM reveals that single-dimensional interventions fail because dimensional convergence regenerates conflicts through unaddressed pathways. PEREM reveals that effective and sustainable resolution requires a comprehensive strategy that addresses all six dimensions simultaneously. It also advances political ecology scholarship, demonstrating its relevance to post-colonial extractive contexts globally.
Included in
Development Studies Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Environmental Public Health Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Global Studies Commons, International Public Health Commons, International Relations Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, Mining Engineering Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, Operational Research Commons, Other International and Area Studies Commons, Political Theory Commons, Risk Analysis Commons, Social Justice Commons