Resource politics in sub-Saharan Africa

Natural resources have been blamed for a number of Africa’s illnesses such as poverty, corruption, dictatorship and war. Given recent developments, the debate on the “resource curse” in sub-Saharan Africa is likely to gain momentum: The oil boom in the Gulf in Guinea has prompted expectations and concerns in the region itself and beyond. U. S. government officials have declared African oil an issue of national security. The thirst for oil is one reason why China’s interest in the region has been on the rise. Numerous initiatives such as the “Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative” and the “Kimberley Process” aim at tackling the adverse effects of natural resources. Although the debate is already moving towards practical recommendations, the subject seems to be somewhat trickier than the mainstream literature suggests. As examples such as Botswana or Namibia show, there is no simple automatism that turns natural resource wealth into a “curse”. Focusing on political issues, this edited volume goes beyond the notion of the “resource curse” and instead centres on the concept of “resource politics” in order to capture the multi-faceted dynamics that characterise the political and socio-economic structures and processes related to natural resources in the region. The first part of the book highlights pertinent areas of interest such as the transmission channels of the resource curse, especially its economic dimension and the oil sector in sub-Saharan Africa. Eight case studies – including Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – capture a wider scope of different resources and differences in historical outcomes. The final part of the volume deals with measures of intervention and prevention, such as water-conflict related cooperation in Southern Africa and the “Kimberley Process”, as well as theoretical and methodological challenges for future research.