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Ako, Rhuks; Uddin, Nilopar --- "Good Governance and Resource Management in Africa" [2011] ELECD 402; in Botchway, N. Francis (ed), "Natural Resource Investment and Africa’s Development" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Natural Resource Investment and Africa’s Development

Editor(s): Botchway, N. Francis

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848446793

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Good Governance and Resource Management in Africa

Author(s): Ako, Rhuks; Uddin, Nilopar

Number of pages: 28

Extract:

1. Good governance and resource
management in Africa
Rhuks Ako and Nilopar Uddin

1 INTRODUCTION

Good governance in this chapter is defined in the context of the manage-
ment of natural resources to include the four principles of democracy,
the rule of law, accountability and transparency, and management of
revenues. As the literature indicates, the values of democracy constitute
a core determinant of the existence (or otherwise) of the other principles
highlighted. It is thus not surprising that the broad question this chapter
seeks to explore is a question posed by President Clinton in relation to
Africa thus: `Why is it that countries that are so rich in resources are so
deficient in democratic resource?' In other words, what is the correlation
between resource endowment and democratic principles as the central
theme of good governance? What is the relationship between the legal
frameworks that regulate these resource industries and good governance
of the resources? Are the relevant legal provisions adequate to promote
the values of good governance including democracy (as a system of gov-
ernment), the rule of law, accountability and transparency, and effective
management of resource revenues?
These questions are examined in the following section, first, by high-
lighting the definitional challenges of the term `good governance', its
origins and its principles vis-à-vis resource management. The third section
examines the resource curse trajectory and how it impacts the principles of
good governance. The question whether there is a direct or indirect corre-
lation between resource curse and democratic ...