Sovereignty, the ‘resource curse’ and the limits of good governance: a political economy of oil in Ghana

Phillips, Jon; Hailwood, Elena; Brooks, Andrew

Abstract

The idea of a resource curse has influenced policy makers and led to calls for good governance to avoid the pitfalls of oil sector development. Through discussion of Ghana's recent insertion into the global political economy of oil, this paper describes the limits of the resource curse framing and associated liberal institutional management approaches to the inherently political nature of oil exploration and production. The paper describes ways in which sovereignty has been exercised both in opposition to and in support of foreign capital, and the role of discourses of ‘good governance’ in structuring the material politics of resource access.

Citation

Phillips, J., Hailwood, E., & Brooks, A. (2016). Sovereignty, the ‘resource curse’ and the limits of good governance: a political economy of oil in Ghana. Review of African political economy, 43(147), 26-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2015.1049520

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 1, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jan 17, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 17, 2022
• Journal: Review of African Political Economy
• Print ISSN: 0305-6244
• Electronic ISSN: 1740-1720
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 43
• Issue: 147
• Pages: 26-42
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2015.1049520
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03056244.2015.1049520