Ruth First Prize

The Editorial Working Group of ROAPE is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2021 Ruth First Prize is Dr Japhace Poncian, for his excellent piece ‘Resource nationalism and community engagement in extractive resource governance: insights from Tanzania’, published in volume 48, issue 170 (Poncian 2021). The prize is awarded for the best article published by an African author in the journal in a publication year.

Figure 1. Dr Japhace Poncian talking on mining and linkages to the wider economy, part of a REPOA/NRGI training workshop held on 27 August 2019 on how Tanzania can best harness its natural resources for the realisation of its development goals. (Photo by courtesy of REPOA, a Tanzanian non-profit NGO and leading independent research institution in Tanzania specialising in policy research on socio-economic and development issues.)

The prize committee argued that Poncian produced an excellent, well-researched piece about local and national class power and imperialist structures by examining the consequences of resource nationalism on community engagement. The article is well located within political economy, resonating with Ruth First’s focus on the role, participation, leadership and inclusion of grassroots communities and citizens in economic and political decisions, processes and activities. Through three detailed case studies, Poncian demonstrates that successive state-led policies of resource nationalism in Tanzania have betrayed their promises to create more benefits and participation for the community by reproducing the marginalisation and exclusion of ordinary people. Furthermore, as one committee member notes, his article correctly shows that ‘there has been no bucking of “resource liberalism” despite belligerent claims to the contrary’, as Tanzania continues to be dependent on rents from resource extraction and foreign investment.

This piece makes a singular contribution to ROAPE’s remit by making an important intervention in debates surrounding resource nationalism and popular participation.

Dr Poncian is a lecturer in Development Studies and is head of department of History, Political Science and Development Studies at Mkwawa University College of Education in Tanzania. He researches on the politics of extractive resource governance and broader development issues in Tanzania and Africa, and is currently working on a DANIDA-funded research project exploring the political economy of renewable energy in Africa. He holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Newcastle in Australia, an MA (Global Development and Africa) from the University of Leeds, UK, and a BA (Education) from the University of Dar es Salaam.

The prize-winning article can be read free of charge on the Taylor & Francis Online ROAPE website at https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/journal-prize-pgas-ruth-first-prize/?utm_source=CPB&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JOB08218#. A list of previous winners of the Ruth First prize, giving details of their articles, is also set out on the page.

Editorial Working Group of the Review of African Political Economy

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