Oil, Democracy, and Development in Africa

This book focuses on the history, key industry and policy actors, and political economic outcomes in oil-producing African states.

John R. Heilbrunn (Author)

9781107661073, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 March 2017

282 pages, 13 tables
23 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.43 kg

'The arguments made in this book present a robust challenge to the idea of the resource curse and provide a comprehensive survey of the ways in which natural resources can potentially facilitate the emergence of democracy … This book will be of interest to a broad range of readers considering the potential impact of natural resource holdings on democratisation and governance in developing states.' Thomas O'Brien, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics

Oil, Democracy, and Development in Africa presents an optimistic analysis of the continent's oil-producing states. With attention to the complex histories, the interactions of key industry actors and policy makers, and the goals of diverse groups in society, this contribution fills a gap in the literature on resource-abundant countries. John R. Heilbrunn presents a positive assessment of circumstances in contemporary African oil exporters. The book demonstrates that even those leaders who are among the least accountable use oil revenues to improve their citizens' living standards, if only a little bit. As a consequence, African oil producers are growing economically and their people are living under increasingly democratic polities. Heilbrunn thus calls for a long-overdue reassessment of the impact of hydrocarbons on developing economies.

1. Oil, democracy, and development in Africa
2. Historic paths: colonialism and its legacies
3. Oil companies: corporate strategies and profits
4. Economic growth and phases of production
5. Resource revenues, corruption, and contracts
6. Machine politics, oil, and democracy
7. Conclusion: oil, democracy, and development in Africa.

Subject Areas: Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]