Critical reflections on 15 years of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)

This special section of The Extractive Industries and Society brings together viewpoints and research articles 15 years after the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was launched, which reflect critically on the extent to which the EITI informs, empowers and improves resource governance. The papers provide important insight into the impact and effectiveness of the EITI, the role of civil society in the EITI process, the need to make disclosure more relevant to citizens and local communities, and the national politics of transparency in resource governance. While transparency itself is insufficient in addressing the multifaceted problems resource-rich countries face, revenue transparency can be viewed as an ‘entry point’ into a conflicting conversation between companies, governments and civil society where trust and consensus can be built on issues beyond revenue. Future work needs to evaluate the effect of EITI more fully in the context of other initiatives operating globally and at the national and subnational levels, and for what and for whom these spaces of policy and practice are being framed and produced.