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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Resource curse or resource disease? Oil in Ghana |
| Authors: | Kopinski, Dominik Polus, Andrzej Tycholiz, Wojciech |
| Year: | 2013 |
| Periodical: | African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society (ISSN 1468-2621) |
| Volume: | 112 |
| Issue: | 449 |
| Pages: | 583-601 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Ghana |
| Subjects: | petroleum industry political conditions economic conditions hydrocarbon policy civil society |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/43817370 |
| Abstract: | Ghana has recently joined the ranks of oil-producing states with a projected output of 120,000 barrels per day. This has greatly elevated hopes among the general public, but also sparked fears of a 'Nigerian scenario' in which oil becomes a problem rather than a solution. This article argues that Ghana, as a latecomer to the oil industry, may possess a structural immunity against the natural resource curse. The argument centres on three main factors: the country's stable political system, its relatively robust and diversified economy, and the strength of civil society. As a result, the usual symptoms linked to oil extraction across the developing world are unlikely to turn the country upside down. Instead, the authors suggest that the 'curse' should be perceived as a treatable 'disease'. The article pursues this analogy by showing that, since the discovery of oil, Ghana has been strengthening its 'immune system' through a new legal framework, improvements in transparency and accountability, and modest attempts to strengthen non-resource sectors of the economy. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |
