From nuclear imperialism to petro-democracy? Resource assemblages and the emergence of a new political configuration in Niger

Abstract

The rentier state and resource curse concepts understand oil and uranium as fixed resources generating economic rents. In doing so, these theories largely ignore the social, economic, political and technological arrangements essential for a material substance like oil or uranium to become a resource. By comparing the diachronic and synchronic entanglements of the different socio-technical arrangements of oil and uranium in Niger, the assumption of the resource curse and rentier state theories, that resource revenues foster authoritarian tendencies, is revisited. Exploring the concept of resource assemblages, this article analyzes how political configurations are related to the process of resource exploitation. This perspective reveals that a new resource-political configuration in Niger has emerged since the beginning of oil production. Whereas Niger’s uranium-political configuration has long been characterized by a neocolonial discursive formation, the emerging petro-political configuration has produced a new resource nationalism in public opinion and governance which is transforming politics in Niger.

RÉSUMÉ

L’État rentier et les concepts de malédiction des ressources comprennent le pétrole et l’uranium comme des ressources fixes qui génèrent des rentes économiques. Ce faisant, ces théories ignorent largement les dispositions sociales, économiques, politiques et technologiques qui sont essentielles à la transformation de substances matérielles comme le pétrole ou l’uranium en ressources. À travers la comparaison des enchevêtrements diachroniques et synchroniques des différentes dispositions sociotechniques du pétrole et de l’uranium au Niger, l’hypothèse de la malédiction des ressources et des théories de l’État rentier, selon laquelle les recettes tirées des ressources favorise les tendances autoritaires, est repensée. En explorant le concept d’assemblage des ressources, cet article examine comment les configurations politiques sont liées au processus d’exploitation des ressources. Cette perspective révèle qu’au Niger, une nouvelle configuration ressources-politique a émergé depuis le début de la production de pétrole. Alors que la configuration politique vis-à-vis de l’uranium a longtemps été caractérisée par une formation discursive néocoloniale, la configuration pétrole-politique émergente a généré un nouveau nationalisme relatif aux ressources dans l’opinion et la gouvernance publiques qui est en train de transformer la politique au Niger.

Keywords:

• Oil
• uranium
• resource curse
• rentier state
• Niger
• democracy
• assemblage

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Matt Fennessy, Renate Städing, the participants of the doctoral colloquium of Nikolaus Schareika at the University of Göttingen, CJAS-editor Julie Archambault and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier drafts of this paper. An earlier version of this article was presented at the fifth European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) in Lisbon in June 2013. All errors are of course my own.

Notes

1. The term assemblage is the English translation of the term agencement used by Deleuze and Guattari (1987) in the original French version of A Thousand Plateaus.

2. Areva holds a 63.4% share in Somair, while the Nigerien state has a 36.6% share. Areva has a 34% share in Cominak, the government of Niger 31%, while other shareholders include Overseas Uranium Resources Development Co., Ltd. (OURD) (Japan) with 25%, and Empresa Nacional del Uranio S.A. (ENUSA) (Spain) with 10% (OECD NEA & IAEA 2012).

3. Due to the defense treaty signed in 1961, uranium negotiations were held on the state-to-state level.

4. The first ordinance (l’ordonnance no. 74-1 du 22 avril 1974) specifying the regime of associations in Niger was introduced by Seyni Kountché after he came to power in a military coup. The ordinance was, however, still highly restrictive, and greatly limited rights of association. This ordinance saw its first important modification in 1984 (l’ordonnance no. 84-06 du 1er mars 1984) in the midst of Structural Adjustment Programs, which had been introduced the previous year. The revision allowed the formation of youth, school, sport, religious, cultural, foreign and charity associations. Non-governmental and human rights associations were finally allowed in 1991 (Loi no. 91-06 du 20 mai 1991) under Ali Saibou, in the midst of the National Conference held due to internal and external political pressures. At a student demonstration on 9 February 1990, three had died and several had been injured. Together with international pressure, this led to the National Conference, which introduced a multi-party system. After the introduction of law 91-06, civil society associations proliferated.

5. Almoustapha Alhacen, 2009. http://urgewald.org/artikel/rede-almoustapha-alhacen-0 (accessed 19 January 2015).

6. The agreement increased the royalty payment from 27,300 CFA francs (US$57) per kilogram to 40,000 CFA (US$83/kg), and provided 300 tons of uranium for Niger to sell on the open market. It was sold to Exelon in the USA for US$42 million (World Nuclear Association 2013).

7. The ownership structure of Imouraren SA: 33.35% Niger, 56.65% Areva and 10% Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

8. Tazartché is a Hausa word, and translates roughly as “continuation”. It was launched at the oil refinery’s foundation-stone ceremony in Zinder in late 2008. There, Tandja was celebrated by an impressive crowd composed mainly of youths, who welcomed him with Tazartché t-shirts and slogans. Tazarchté was officially portrayed as a spontaneous social movement initiated by the youth of Zinder because Tandja had opted for Zinder as the site of the oil refinery.

9. BBC Afrique, 2013, “Niger: manifestation anti-Areva.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/afrique/region/2013/04/130405_niger_manifestation_areva.shtml (accessed 21 November 2013).

10. Ali Idrissa and Alice Powell, “Historic opportunity for Niger to get a fair deal for its resources must be seized, urges PWYP Niger and PWYP International”, 21 November 2013. http://publishwhatyoupay.org/resources/historic-opportunity-niger-get-fair-deal-its-resources-must-be-seized-urges-pwyp-niger-and.

11. In contrast, the inorganic or abiogenic theory of the origin of petroleum states that hydrogen and carbon come together at extreme temperatures and under great pressure far below the earth’s surface, and form oil and gas that is thus constantly (re)produced near the earth’s core. The oil and gas then seep through porous rocks to deposits in various natural underground traps.

12. According to Ministry of Oil and Energy statistics, in total 148 exploration boreholes, 39 appraisal drillings, 15 development wells, 20,000 km of gravity and airborne magnetometry, 5800 km² of 3D seismic, 96 km of 2D TFEM and more than 45,000 km of seismic 2D were made by various oil companies. Much of the 2D data dates from the beginnings of oil activities in Niger and is of poor quality (Sanda 2012).

13. The official estimations made by Esso and Petronas stated a quantity of oil reserves in the Agadem oil block of up to 324 million barrels and 350 billion cubic feet of gas. In 2008, the CNPC adjusted these estimations up to 744 million barrels of oil and 565 billion cubic feet of gas. The latest estimations are as high as 1 billion barrels of oil. Nevertheless, these are still low compared to the oil reserves of the major African oil-producing countries (Algeria, Libya, Nigeria and Angola).

14. The word “pragmatism” refers to a differentiation between Tandja, who “first acts and then talks”, and derogative claims of “intellectualism” against Issoufou, who “first talks and then (never) acts”.

15. China’s reputation for non-interference does not match reality. Examples of this include their conditions of Taiwan’s non-recognition, the conditions incorporated in infrastructure-for-resources-deals, and the markets for Chinese products opening up with every new business contract.

16. It is worth noting that this speech was widely circulated among the Nigerien population with “Chinese” mobile phones. These phones had the technical capacity to transfer and exchange data files with internal memory cards and Bluetooth. When I arrived in Diffa in May 2011 and presented myself to the governor with a mission order from a national research institute to do research about natural resources and social change, he immediately deployed tactics of intimidation, telling me that he would call the president, the ministries, the university and the national research institute, because I apparently lacked appropriate research authorization. He then called the chief of police, who took me for questioning, asking me about where I had been and whom I had talked to. I was immediately expelled from the region, and had to return to the capital the next morning. Although the era of Tandja was already over, it became apparent that I was taken for a spy. This was not only due to Tandja’s politics, but also to a seemingly omnipresent anxiety about foreign secret agents in Niger.

17. All exchange rates from FCFA to US$ are from 26 February 2016.

18. Outside the capital Niamey, the lion’s share of fuel consumed is smuggled in from Nigeria. At the time, it was sold on the streets by small vendors for around 350 FCFA (US$0.59).

19. Before the announcement of the fuel price fix, civil society activists argued that 250 FCFA/liter was a responsible price.

20. I will argue in a different article that the Tazartché campaign was neither a spontaneous social movement, nor triggered by the oil contract. Closer inspection reveals that the idea of Tazartché existed well before the conclusion of the oil contract, and rather that the oil contract offered the ideological and financial means for its realization. Niger’s oil endeavor served as an ideological legitimization of Tazartché, but Tazartché itself has to be seen as a political conflict that points to the fact that politics are inherently related to struggles over resource access.

21. It is important to note here that the inflation of the state apparatus is seen in theories of the state in Africa (e.g. neopatrimonialism) as a general feature of politics rather than a particular feature of oil, as in the resource curse and rentier state paradigm.

22. Freedom scores attributed to Niger by freedomhouse.org (1 = most free; 7 = least free): 1999 (5.0); 2001 (4.0); 2002 (4.0); 2003 (4.0); 2004 (4.0); 2005 (3.0); 2006 (3.0); 2007 (3.0): 2008 (3.5); 2009 (3.5); 2010 (4.5); 2011 (4.5); 2012 (3.5); 2013 (3.5); 2014 (3.5); 2015 (3.5).