『Abstract
This paper presents a critical survey of the literature on the
‘resource curse’, focusing on three main questions: (i) are natural
resources bad for development?; (ii) what causes the resource
curse?; and, (iii) how can the resource curse be overcome? In
respect of these questions, three observations are made. First,
while the literature provides considerable evidence that natural
resource abundance is associated with various negative development
outcomes, this evidence is by no means conclusive. Second, existing
explanations for the resource curse do not adequately account
for the role of social forces or external political and economic
environments in shaping development outcomes in resource abundant
countries, nor for the fact that, while most resource abundant
countries have performed poorly in developmental terms, a few
have done quite well. Finally, recommendations for overcoming
the resource curse have not generally taken into account the issue
of political feasibility. More generally, it is argued that the
basic problem with the literature is that researchers have been
too reductionist - they have tended to explain development performance
solely in terms of the size and nature of countries' natural resource
endowments. A consensus is emerging that various political and
social variables mediate the relationship between natural resource
wealth and development outcomes. But rather than acknowledge that
these variables are shaped by a range of historical and other
factors in each case, scholars have tended to see them as determined
by the natural resource base. Put differently, scholars have been
asking the wrong question: rather than asking why natural resource
wealth has fostered various political pathologies and in turn
promoted poor development performance, they should have been asking
what political and social factors enable some resource abundant
countries to utilise their natural resources to promote development
and prevent other resource abundant countries from doing the same.
Keywords: natural resources; civil war; democracy; economic growth』
Contents
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Are natural resources bad for development?
Economic performance
Civil war
Regime type
2.1. Conclusion
3. What causes the resource curse?
3.1. Economic performance
Behaviouralist perspectives
Rational actor perspectives
State-centred perspectives
Historico-structuralist perspectives
Social capital perspectives
3.2. Civil war
3.2.1. The onset of civil war
3.2.2. Duration and intensity
3.2.3. Type of civil war
3.3. Regime type
3.4. Commentary
4. How can the resource curse be overcome?
4.1. Commentary
5. Conclusion
References