Challenging the Social License

This chapter presents an analysis of six illustrative case studies where the social license to operate has been challenged. The cases are from different parts of the world and offer both international and comparative global perspectives within this developing subject area. Community pressure is explored in terms of the rooibos industry in South Africa, following the application of normative social pressure in the Khoi and San communities. When the term social license to operate was coined, it was especially concerned with environmental harm and social risk from physical industrial activities, here three environmental examples are examined, the seam gas industry in Australia, copper mining operations in Peru, and gas exploration and licensing in the Netherlands. The two final case studies cover corruption in the technology industry in Germany, and the perceived social harm attached to European (Danish) garment operations following political upheaval in Southeast Asia.