Agents of change within the colonial state? The role of ‘interface bureaucrats’ in consultations on natural resources

The duty of states to consult Indigenous communities about resource developments is central to international law and new procedures are being developed, globally.

Scholarly work has shown how such consultations often exacerbate rather than resolve conflict and entangle communities deeper in state oppression. Yet, the role of state officials has been absent from the analysis.

Past research has tended to assume that the state is monolithic and focused almost exclusively on the constraining influence of the state bureaucracy.This project asks the following key research question: how can state officials meaningfully engage with Indigenous rights in consultations on natural resources, considering that such consultations take place within an inherently colonial state bureaucracy?

The purpose is to generate novel understanding about prospects for dialogue in natural resource conflicts, offering critical but constructive feedback to both Indigenous and state actors.The research will comprise of qualitative case study analyses, guided by emerging literature about ‘interface bureaucrats’ in natural resource governance and theories about intercultural dialogue.

Comparisons will be conducted between Sámi lands in Sweden and First Nation territories in British Columbia, Canada.

These jurisdictions both face substantial challenges in operationalizing the state duty to consult yet represent highly diverse situations as regards the potential maneuvering space for state bureaucrats.