• Login
    View Item 
    •   OpenDocs Home
    • Institute of Development Studies Research Repository
    • IDS Research
    • View Item
    •   OpenDocs Home
    • Institute of Development Studies Research Repository
    • IDS Research
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    The political economy of the resource curse : a literature survey

    Thumbnail
    Download
    Wp268.pdf (822.6Kb)
    Date
    2006
    Author
    Rosser, Andrew
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Impact
    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
    URI
    https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/4061
    Citation
    Rosser, A. (2006) The political economy of the resource curse : a literature survey. Working paper series, 268. Brighton: IDS.
    Is part of series
    IDS working papers;268
    Library catalogue entry
    http://bldscat.ids.ac.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=163795
    Rights holder
    Institute of Development Studies
    Rights details
    https://www.ids.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IDSOpenDocsStandardTermsOfUse2018.pdf
    Collections
    • IDS Research [1592]

    About OpenDocs | OpenDocs Policy | Help | Contact Us | Send Feedback | Disclaimer and Cookies
     

     

    Browse

    All of OpenDocsCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    About OpenDocs | OpenDocs Policy | Help | Contact Us | Send Feedback | Disclaimer and Cookies