Curse or Blessing? Resource Governance in Angola and its Implications for Economic Development

African countries in their quest for independence have leveraged their natural resources in boosting economic growth, but with limited success in diversifying productive activities and alleviating poverty in the continent. The Resource Curse Hypothesis (RCH) suggests that their abundance in natural endowments paradoxically constrains developmental efforts. However, decades of study have failed to find a consensus on whether the curse exists and what are its driving factors. This thesis proposes an idiographic approach through process tracing to scrutinize policies and strategies used when managing natural resources and their derived revenues. Angola is the selected case study due to its high dependence on the petrol sector and its intimate connection to politics. Examining the economic trajectory in Angola evidenced how the concentration of political power, economic prioritization, and institutional development affected resource governance and, consequently, the way extractive...Show moreAfrican countries in their quest for independence have leveraged their natural resources in boosting economic growth, but with limited success in diversifying productive activities and alleviating poverty in the continent. The Resource Curse Hypothesis (RCH) suggests that their abundance in natural endowments paradoxically constrains developmental efforts. However, decades of study have failed to find a consensus on whether the curse exists and what are its driving factors. This thesis proposes an idiographic approach through process tracing to scrutinize policies and strategies used when managing natural resources and their derived revenues. Angola is the selected case study due to its high dependence on the petrol sector and its intimate connection to politics. Examining the economic trajectory in Angola evidenced how the concentration of political power, economic prioritization, and institutional development affected resource governance and, consequently, the way extractive sectors influence economic development. The conclusion is that the Angolan authoritarian regime prioritized its survival over the improvement of domestic market conditions, with limited positive impacts for the population while constraining durable economic development by over-relying on the petrol industry.Show less

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Curse or Blessing? Resource Governance in Angola and its Implications for Economic Development