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

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.

[La souveraineté, la “malédiction des ressources” et les limites de la bonne gouvernance : une économie politique du pétrole au Ghana.] L’idée de la malédiction des ressources a influencé les décideurs politiques et a abouti à des appels vers une meilleure gouvernance afin d’éviter les pièges liés au développement du secteur pétrolier. A travers une discussion sur l’insertion récente du Ghana dans l’économie politique globale du pétrole, cet article décrit les limites de l’encadrement de la malédiction des ressources et des approches libérales associées en matière de gestion institutionnelle à la nature par essence politique de l’exploration et de la production de pétrole. L’article décrit les manières selon lesquelles la souveraineté a été exercée à la fois en opposition à et en soutien au capital étranger, et le rôle des discours de « bonne gouvernance » dans la structuration des politiques matérielles en matière d’accès aux ressources.

Keywords:

• Ghana
• good governance
• oil
• political economy
• resource curse
• sovereignty

Mots-clés:

• Ghana
• bonne gouvernance
• pétrole
• économie politique
• malédiction des ressources
• souveraineté

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) studentship under student grant no. ES/J500057/1. Fieldwork was also supported by travel grants from King's College London Department of Geography and School of Social Science and Public Policy.

The authors would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. They would also like to thank Peter Newell, Federico Caprotti, Michael Goodman and members of a King's College London Geography Department reading group for their comments on earlier versions of the paper.

Notes on contributors

Jon Phillips is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography at King's College London. His PhD research examines the political geographies of oil and gas in Ghana. His previous research includes research on climate and energy governance in India and South Africa.

Elena Hailwood is an independent researcher and graduate of King's College London. Her previous work has explored the ways in which states employ the act of penetration, literally and symbolically, as a weapon in conflict. She has also spent time in Accra, Ghana conducting research which focused on patriarchy within heterosexual relationships.

Andrew Brooks is a Lecturer in Development Geography at King's College London. His research examines connections between spaces of production and places of consumption and the geographies of economic and social change in Africa. He has previously researched the geographies of second-hand trade in southern Africa.

ORCID

Jon Phillips http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6286-2165

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.