Reputation Carrier, International System Design And Responsibility Community

Designed to break down the curse of Conflict Diamonds (CD), the KimberleyProcess (KP) has been in effect for more than ten years. Though there have been upsand downs, overall it has made contributions to the containment and elimination ofCD all around the world, and it is regarded as a successful and significant attempt todeal with the ancient and complex problem of the Resource Curse (RC) faced byhumanity.Conflict Diamonds are diamonds controlled by anti-government armed forces,which once brought endless catastrophes to the African people. Major actors involvedin the issue (stakeholders) include representatives of civil society such as NGOs andmedia, IGOs, importers and exporters of diamonds, transnational corporations andassociations in the diamond industry, and global consumers. Based on the observationand analysis of a series of facts about the background, establishment, development,achievements, and controversies of the Kimberley Process, this dissertation assertsfour viewpoints:1) During the institutional establishment process, out of greatimportance and preservation of reputation, stakeholders of CD participated andpromoted the establishment of the KP; therefore, the KP served as a reputation vehicle;2) International institutions have been empirically proven to be an effective method ofGlobal Governance (GG) in order to eradicate CD, and the institutional design ofsingle issue and legal trade circle have guaranteed efficiency and effectiveness;3) Asan ad-hoc international institution in the area of the Resource Curse, the KP willinevitably develop to a point when it stirs up a divisive debate regarding whether ornot to expand the scope of governance. It is supposed that a comparatively feasibleapproach is seeking international cooperation rather than expanding the governancescope itself;4) The degree of fit between the individual international responsibilitiesof all the stakeholders and the ethic responsibilities reflected by Conflict Diamonds,in addition to the internalization of the responsibility norm of anti-Conflict Diamondsin members’ minds pushed by the KP, both contribute to the shaping of responsiblecommunity specific to the issue of CD as a new mode of Global Governance, which– together with the KP–helps maintain the long-term effect of governing CD.The Resource Curse refers to a series of negative phenomena related to naturalresources in the areas of security, politics, economy, society, and environments. Thesuccessful experience in the area of Conflict Diamonds’ governance shows someuniversality in a broader issue of the Resource Curse. In the Extractive IndustriesTransparency Initiative (EITI) aimed at promoting revenue transparency in oil, gasand mineral exploration industries, calling for responsibilities and reputationalpressure are two important factors for the establishment and implementation of theinternational institution. However, compared with the KP, EITI has insufficiencies inmember scale, international standing, institutional design, responsibility matching,and norm internalization. The governance status quo of the extractive industries is notequal to that of the diamond industry.The Resource Curse is an unavoidable world-class problem in contemporaryinternational politics, as well as a significant historical topic related to circumventingresource wars, narrowing the wealth gap between core-edge states, optimizing thenational political system, improving people’s livelihoods, and achieving sustainabledevelopment. Following the steps below about international institutional governanceaiming at breaking the RC through can be a far-reaching historical project benefitingthousands of people: to pressure stakeholders with reputation during the issue’sdiffusion and governance, build a reputational vehicle at the level of internationalinstitutions, set up a single issue and a legal trade circle in institutional design,strengthen international cooperation instead of expanding the governance scope,reinforce the international responsibilities of all the stakeholders, form a responsiblecommunity focused specifically on this single issue, and construct a globalgovernance mode combining the institutional and non-institutional forms tothoroughly conquer the RC. Apparently, human beings still have a long way to gobefore they succeed in ending the Resource Curse.