Africa Portal LibraryA key feature to the Africa Portal is the online library collection holding over 5,000 books, journals, and digital documents related to African policy issues. The entire online repository is open access and available for free full-text download. A portion of the digital documents housed in the library have been digitized for the first time as an undertaking of the Africa Portal project. Facilitating new digitization projects is a core feature of the Africa Portal, which aims to improve access and visibility for African policy research. |
Besides Greed and Grievances: Natural Resource Characteristics and Conflicts in Africa"This paper addresses the debate on natural resources and conflict from the point that conceptualisations of the linkages between conflicts and natural resources have generally concentrated on the human aspects of the relationship. By so doing, the nature of natural resources and the influence their inherent and locational characteristics have on the roles they play in conflicts are seldom taken into account. Drawing on African conflict experience, the paper adduces evidence to establish an argument that this approach is one-sided for a proper understanding of the issues involved, and maintains that a more holistic understanding and conceptualisation should appreciate the role of natural resource characteristics. It posits that a given resource has a higher chance of fuelling conflict when it has characteristics that require less specialised skills for its exploitation and refinement, has high liquidity, and is easily portable and therefore ‘smugglable’." |
