Resource Curse or Bureaucratic Curse: How Does the Public Administration Engender Resource Curse in Africa?

• In Event: The Nexus between Public Policy and Public Administration

Abstract

This paper explores the contradiction by which resource-rich countries in the developing world/global south still struggle regarding political and economic stability. In the world of political science and economics, this socio-political instability and the economic underperformance of naturally well-endowed countries are expressed under the terms “resource curse” or “the paradox of plenty.” Focusing on Africa, however, this article holds that natural resources are here to help and should, therefore, never be seen as a curse. Instead, the flawed public administration and the weak state capacities are to blame for this paradox. Indeed, in a context where ethnicity and elitism dominate the political landscape, (1) nepotism and patronage favor incompetency within African public administration, hence their incapacity to properly manage their respective countries’ resources. (2) Also, clientelism within those administrations engenders a condition where only the elites or/and the pro-regimes feel the socio-economic benefits of their country’s resources. Unhappy with this situation, the masses and the non-supporters of the regimes want to extract the benefits of their country’s resources on their own, thus creating conflict over the control of those resources and many other socio-political issues. As a result, it appears clearly that Africa is not suffering from any resource curse, but from a ‘bureaucratic curse.’

Author

• Donald Arra, International University of Grand-Bassam