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The Governance Gap: Extractive Industries, Human Rights and the Home State Advantage by Penelope Simons and Audrey Macklin [Routledge , London , 2014, xxxvii + 422pp, ISBN 978-0-415-33470-9 , £100.00 (h/bk)]
Book Reviews
This book adds a new dimension to the increasing interest and practice in business and human rights issues. It places these issues in a clear and coherent context, shows the governance gaps that exist, and provides practical and manageable recommendations for ways forward. In so doing, it builds upon the existing scholarship of both the authors and others, while offering new insights.
The 'governance gap' of the title concerns 'the prevention of, and accountability for, direct and indirect corporate human rights abuses in host states and the provision of redress to victims of such abuses' (9). The particular focus of the book is on transnational extractive corporations when operating in zones of weak governance. These corporations are active in areas where there are natural resources and so may find themselves operating long term, usually through a contract with the host State, in locations where the host State government is unable or unwilling to prevent violations of human rights.