A Game of Blame: The Crisis Management of Lundin Oil in the Case of Sudan
2024 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
The Swedish multinational energy company Lundin Oil explored and drilled for oil in Block 5A, Sudan, in 1997–2003. The venture took place during the lengthy North–South civil war, commonly referred to as the Second Sudanese Civil War. Before long, Lundin Oil drew heavy accusations of human rights violations, as a direct result of its operations in a conflict zone. In 2010, the Swedish Prosecution Authority launched a preliminary investigation against the company. At present, two top executives of Lundin Oil stand trial for alleged complicity in grave war crimes, committed by the former Sudanese government. The company itself is tried for forfeiture and corporate fine. Over the years, the company and its legal representation have issued a multitude of public messages, for instance reports and website texts, in order to tell the company’s side of the story. This bachelor’s thesis applies the blame avoidance theory of Bovens et al in order to reveal how Lundin Oil and its solicitors attempt to deflect blame in their public communication. For this purpose, qualitative text analysis is employed. The essay entails a case study design, a single-case study, pertaining to the unique phenomenon of the blame avoidance strategies of Lundin Oil in the case of Sudan. In testing the blame avoidance framework of Bovens et al on this case, this study has bridged a research gap. The results of this essay give at hand that Lundin Oil and its legal representation resort to denying the event, reframing the situation into a success, disqualifying the analyst, report or investigation, accusing the accusers, and combating causation, that is, claiming to have had nothing to do with it. The company also claims systematic reform of its business model. These findings are not expected to be generalizable to other settings, owing to the exclusive nature of the case.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. , p. 47
Keywords [en]
Lundin Oil, Lundin Petroleum, Lundin Energy, Sudan, Bovens et al, crisis management, blame avoidance, blame game, security
National Category
Political Science Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-12212OAI: oai:DiVA.org:fhs-12212DiVA, id: diva2:1835898
Subject / course
Political Science with a focus on Crisis Management and Security
Educational program
Swedish Defence University’s Bachelor Program
Uppsok
Social and Behavioural Science, Law
Supervisors
Examiners
2024-02-072024-02-072024-02-07Bibliographically approved