Neither Naïve Nor Fatalistic: Decolonizing Mining Partnerships With Indigenous Communities in Mongolia and Australia

Natalya Turkina

doi:10.1177/00076503241283802

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Neither Naïve Nor Fatalistic: Decolonizing Mining Partnerships With Indigenous Communities in Mongolia and Australia

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Neither Naïve Nor Fatalistic: Decolonizing Mining Partnerships With Indigenous Communities in Mongolia and Australia

Natalya Turkina

Business & Society, Vol.65(1), pp.232-276

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503241283802

Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs

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Abstract

Stakeholder engagement

mining partnerships

decolonisation

democratic deliberation

stakeholder colonialism

Indigenous perspectives

Mining partnerships have often been promoted as opportunities for meaningful collaboration between corporations and Indigenous communities. However, these partnerships frequently lack a nuanced understanding of the colonial assumptions that underpin power imbalances and divergent perspectives. This study addresses this gap by examining how a multinational mining corporation, Indigenous communities, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) representing these communities (de)legitimize their mining partnerships within the framework of global stakeholder colonialism in Australia and Mongolia. The study shows how stakeholder colonialism coerces Indigenous communities into accepting a social reality where mining is inevitable, either with or without partnerships. This dynamic reflects the hegemonic power of mining corporations, which is sustained not by a balance of coercion and consent but by discursive coercion without consent. This implies that there is a failure of this hegemonic power to fully establish itself, opening the door for subaltern resistance and counter-hegemonic struggles by Indigenous peoples. By highlighting Indigenous perspectives that challenge the prevailing managerial views in mining corporations, this study disrupts the corporate narrative that portrays the sole social objectivity where mining is inevitable. Instead, it advocates for a more nuanced understanding that goes beyond a simplistic view of mining partnerships as either naïve democratic deliberation or fatalistic stakeholder colonialism.

Details

Title: Neither Naïve Nor Fatalistic: Decolonizing Mining Partnerships With Indigenous Communities in Mongolia and Australia
Authors: Natalya Turkina (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative Industries
Publication details: Business & Society, Vol.65(1), pp.232-276
Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc.
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.1177/00076503241283802
ISSN: 1552-4205
Copyright note: © The Author(s) 2024. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Grant note: This study was funded by the AustralianInternational Postgraduate Research Scholarship and Australian Postgraduate Award.
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991067098902621
Output Type: Journal article

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