Natural Resources and African Economies: Asset or Liability?

Ovadia, Jesse Salah

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-38922-2_36

Jesse Salah Ovadia⁶

Part of the book series: Palgrave Handbooks in IPE ((PHIPE))

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Abstract

This chapter contributes to the debates on natural resources and socio-economic development in Africa. The resource curse hypothesis dominates how scholars, government officials, and the general public understand the developmental potential of natural resources. Nigeria and Angola are two common examples of countries that, despite massive oil wealth, have not seen a benefit from oil extraction. The outcomes associated with the resource curse include lower economic growth, lack of democracy, increased corruption, and increased conflict (Karl, The Paradox of Plenty. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997; Ross, World Politics 53: 297–322, 2001; Watts, Geopolitics 9: 50–80, 2004). While scholars continue to debate whether a causal relationship, or indeed even correlation, can be established, no policy maker can simply accept the notion of a curse without asking what can be done by resource-rich countries to produce more developmental outcomes.

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Resource Governance and the Crisis of Development

Beyond the Resource Curse: Rents and Development

The Role of Natural Resources

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Department of Political Science, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada
Jesse Salah Ovadia

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Jesse Salah Ovadia
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Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba
Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba
Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
Toyin Falola

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Ovadia, J.S. (2020). Natural Resources and African Economies: Asset or Liability?. In: Oloruntoba, S.O., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Political Economy. Palgrave Handbooks in IPE. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38922-2_36

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38922-2_36
Published: 24 June 2020
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38921-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-38922-2
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