Resource curse or resource disease? Oil in Ghana

Type Journal Article - African Affairs
Title Resource curse or resource disease? Oil in Ghana
Author(s)
Volume 112
Issue 449
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2013
Page numbers 583-601
URL http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/449/583.abstract
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, we 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.

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