From June 1 to 10, 2019, researchers Ángeles Sánchez and Alicia Campos (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), traveled to Ghana, to carry out interviews and a field study with the aim of developing a research on regulation and the “Dutch disease” related to the oil sector in that country.
The debate around the effects of natural resources on development is very much present on academic, political and economic issues. Empirical evidence does not always show that the abundance of natural resources in a territory is positive for the domestic development. The “curse of resources” explains this fact. This theory argues that the exploitation of raw materials can lead to processes of de-industrialisation (Dutch disease), appropriation of rents by pressure groups or lobbies both in and around power, increased levels of corruption or, in some cases, even armed conflicts.
However, Ghana, a small oil exporting country, has tried to avoid the curse of recourses. In this way, they have developed a transparent regulation and the civil society has participated in the process.
For this reason, the research has focused on the case of this small African country and has resulted in some publications:
- “Petróleo en tiempos de democracia: debates en torno a la extracción y la política en Ghana” / “Oil in Times of Democracy: Debates around Extraction and Politics in Ghana”, Campos Serrano, A. and Sánchez Díez, A. (2021). Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, 2022 ISSN: 1133-6595 (forthcoming, accepted in July 2021).
- “Industria del petróleo, orden económico y orden político: estudio comparado de Ghana y Guinea Ecuatorial”, Sánchez-Díez, A. and Campos-Serrano, A. (2021). Iberoamerican Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 10, Issue 2 (2021): July – December 2021. DOI: 10.26754/ojs_ried/ijds.600
- Actas del I Congreso Internacional Derechos Humanos, Democracia, Cultura de Paz y No Violencia, Madrid, mayo 2019. F. Javier Murillo y Manuela Mesa (Coord.) ISBN: 978-84-09-12217-2
and their participation in various congresses:
- “Petróleo, economía y política: comparando Ghana y Guinea Ecuatorial”. 11º Congresso Ibérico de Estudos Africanos. Trânsitos africanos no mundo global: História e memórias, heranças e inovações, Faculdade de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa, 6-8 julio 2022.
- “Oil in times of democracy: debates around extraction and politics in Ghana”. 3rd AMENET International Conference on Regional Integration, Accra, Ghana (ONLINE), 22-23 February 2021.
- “Democracia, petróleo y desarrollo en África: debates desde Ghana sobre la maldición de los recursos”. I Congreso Internacional sobre Derechos Humanos, Democracia, Cultura de Paz y No Violencia (DEMOSPAZ), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 29-30 mayo 2019.
