Context Matters – Rethinking the Resource Curse in Sub-Saharan Africa

Arbeitspapier

Natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from a bad reputation. Oil and diamonds, particularly, have been blamed for a number of Africa's illnesses such as poverty, corruption, dictatorship and war. This paper outlines the different areas and transmission channels of how this so-called "resource curse" is said to materialize. By assessing empirical evidence on sub-Saharan Africa it concludes that the resource curse theory fails to sufficiently explain why and how several countries have not or only partly been affected by the "curse". Theoretically, the paper argues that whether or not natural resources are detrimental to a country's socio-economic and political development depends on a number of contextual variables, divided into country-specific conditions and resource-specific conditions (type, degree/level of abundance and dependence, resource revenue management, involved companies etc.). Methodologically, a future research agenda needs to examine the complex interplay of these contextual variables by adding sophisticated comparative research designs, especially "small and medium N" comparisons, to the tool box which has been widely confined to the juxtaposition of "large N" and country case studies.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: GIGA Working Papers ; No. 1

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; History of Economic Thought since 1925: Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School ; Economic History: Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries: Africa; Oceania ; Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
• Subject: Sub-Saharan Africa ; Natural Resources ; Political Economy ; Institutions ; Violent Conflict ; Socio-Economic Development ; Democracy ; Natürliche Ressourcen ; Ressourcenökonomik ; Subsahara-Afrika

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Basedau, Matthias
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA)
• (where): Hamburg
• (when): 2005

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/182544
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET