Coaxing Compliance: Ethiopian Lawyers, Chinese Companies, and the Cultivation of Respect
成果类型：
Article; Early Access
署名作者：
Driessen, Miriam
署名单位：
University of Oxford
刊物名称：
REGULATION & GOVERNANCE
ISSN/ISSBN：
1748-5983
DOI：
10.1111/rego.70030
发表日期：
2025
关键词：
摘要：
Over the past three decades, a growing number of Chinese enterprises have entered Ethiopia's construction and manufacturing sectors as contractors and investors. While adapting to a new regulatory environment, many of these companies have faced administrative challenges and accusations of noncompliance, some of which have been brought to court. Drawing on ethnographic research, this article shows how and why Ethiopian lawyers employed by Chinese firms have become critical to cultivating compliance. Initially recruited to represent their employer in court, lawyers' transformation into internal regulators can be explained by their unique position in the company and beyond. Professionally required to represent the interests of expatriate management, the lawyers, as Ethiopian nationals, routinely identified with the local workforce and counterparties. Many construed compliance as respect for Ethiopian sovereignty and popular dignity as much as adherence to the law, which explains their commitment to compliance work. By exploring the position of Ethiopian lawyers and their relative success in gently yet persuasively encouraging expatriate managers to abide by legal regulations and social norms, the article sheds light on the human face of regulation. It shows that regulation inside organizations and the outcomes of regulatory reform greatly depend on internal regulators' positionalities and subjectivities.
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