Neoliberal governance in mining territories: private social investment in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte

Abstract

This paper addresses one of the expressions of neoliberal governance that, in the Brazilian case, manifests itself, among other forms, through the so-called “private social investment”. It is a set of managerial actions conducted by companies and/or their foundations in the region where they operate, aiming to expand their hegemony by improving their image. However, at the same time, this causes depoliticization and decreases the participatory and transformative capacity of the local societies. Based on Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony and using sustainability reports available on the websites of mining companies operating in the Southeast vector of the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, the main goal of this paper is to collect elements that enable to identify this particularity of “neoliberal governance”.