Book contents
- Lawyering Imperial Encounters
- Global Law Series
- Lawyering Imperial Encounters
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Imperial Encounters
- 2 Indirect Rule and Middle Power
- 3 Gatekeeper States and Offshore Capitalism
- 4 The New Scramble, Deregulation, Re-regulation
- 5 Bujumbura
- 6 Abidjan
- 7 Paris
- 8 The Value of Social Class in Global Justice
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
6 - Abidjan
Lawfare and Accountability Dumping
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 December 2024
- Lawyering Imperial Encounters
- Global Law Series
- Lawyering Imperial Encounters
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Imperial Encounters
- 2 Indirect Rule and Middle Power
- 3 Gatekeeper States and Offshore Capitalism
- 4 The New Scramble, Deregulation, Re-regulation
- 5 Bujumbura
- 6 Abidjan
- 7 Paris
- 8 The Value of Social Class in Global Justice
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 6 examines the Probo Koala environmental catastrophe which involved the dumping of toxic oil residue by the global trader Trafigura in the port of Abidjan in 2005. The development of the scandal into transnational litigation strategies in Britain and European capitals exposes the legal lumpiness fostered by the financialisation of global value chains. The ‘Ivorian miracle’ relied on protected economic integration within the global markets of coffee and cocoa. The dismantling of the ‘post-colonial block’ fostered a displacement of the terms of Côte d’Ivoire’s relationship with global markets. This contributed to reinforcing the prominence of global traders as intermediaries between states, financial markets and corporate power. It also consolidated the symbiotic relationship between the onshoring of offshore capitalism and the offshoring of onshore justice. The case demonstrates that corporate accountability gaps along global value chains are an outcome of the bifurcation of state sovereignty enabled by financial deregulation.
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- Lawyering Imperial EncountersNegotiating Africa's Relationship with the World Economy, pp. 154 - 178Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025