The Micro-Foundations of the Resource Curse: Mineral Ownership and Local Economic Well-Being in Sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 530-543
Author(s):  
Tim Wegenast ◽  
Arpita Asha Khanna ◽  
Gerald Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Control Rights ◽  
Economic Wealth ◽  
Mining Companies ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Economic Well Being

Abstract The quantitative evidence on whether extractive industries generate economic wealth at the local level is far from conclusive. In line with recent studies highlighting the moderating role of institutions and governance structures in the resource–development nexus, we argue that the effect of mining on local economic well-being is largely driven by different control rights regimes. We claim that domestic mineral production stimulates local income more than internationally controlled extraction, since national mining companies promote more backward economic linkages and have higher incentives to engage in local capacity building. To test our micro-level arguments, we combine information on districts’ economic well-being as well as individual's assessments of their personal economic situation with our own dataset on the control rights of copper, gold, and diamond mines. Relying on these data, we perform district- and individual-level analyses of sub-Saharan Africa covering the period from 1997 to 2015. Our instrumental variable estimations and fixed effects models show that the presence of domestic mining companies is associated with increased local wealth. Multinational firms, by contrast, are linked to increased regional unemployment. They largely fail to promote subnational economic well-being.

scholarly journals Intersectional stigma and its impact on HIV prevention and care among MSM and WSW in sub-Saharan African countries: a protocol for a scoping review

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. e047280
Author(s):  
Gamji M’Rabiu Abubakari ◽  
Debbie Dada ◽  
Jemal Nur ◽  
DeAnne Turner ◽  
Amma Otchere ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hiv Prevention ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Scoping Reviews ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Meta Analyses

IntroductionResearch has established that various forms of stigma (HIV stigma, gender non-conforming stigma and same-gender sex stigma) exist across Sub-Saharan Africa and have consequences for the utilisation of HIV prevention and care services. Stigmas are typically investigated in HIV literature individually or through investigating individual populations and the various stigmas they may face. The concept of intersectionality highlights the interconnected nature of social categorisations and their ability to create interdependent systems of discrimination based on gender, race, sexuality and so on. Drawing from perspectives on intersectionality, intersectional stigma denotes the convergence of multiple marginalised identities within an individual or a group, the experiences of stigma associated with these identities as well as the synergistic impact of these experiences on health and well-being. With respect to HIV, public health scholars can examine the impacts of intersectional stigmas on HIV prevention and care utilisation.Methods and analysisReviewers will search systematically through MEDLINE, Global Health, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection and Africa Index Medicus and citations for quantitative studies, qualitative studies and grey literature that include data on stigma and HIV among men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eligible studies will include primary or secondary data on stigma related to HIV risk factors experienced by this population. Studies will be written in French or English and be published between January 1991 and November 2020. All screening and data extraction will be performed in duplicate, and if discrepancies arise, they will be settled by GM’RA, LEN, DD or AO. Findings from this study will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval is not required as there will be no human participants and no protected data will be used in this study. We will disseminate findings through peer-reviewed manuscripts, conferences and webinars.

scholarly journals Wetlands in Ethiopia: Lessons From 20 years of Research, Policy and Practice

Wetlands ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dixon ◽  
Adrian Wood ◽  
Afework Hailu
Keyword(s):  
Research Policy ◽  
Wetland Management ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Wetland Use

AbstractThroughout sub-Saharan Africa wetlands provide ecosystem services that are critical to the development needs of many people. Local wetland use, however, is often at odds with broader national policy goals in which narratives of conservation and protection dominate, hence a recurring challenge is how to reconcile these tensions through the development of policies and field practice that deliver sustainable development. In this paper we examine the extent to which this challenge has been achieved in Ethiopia, charting the changes in wetlands policy and discourse over the last twenty years while reviewing the contribution of the multidisciplinary Ethiopian Wetlands Research Programme (EWRP) (1997–2000). Our analysis suggests that despite EWRP having a significant legacy in developing national interest in wetlands among research, government and non-governmental organisations, its more holistic social-ecological interpretation of wetland management remains neglected within a policy arena dominated by specific sectoral interests and little recognition of the needs of local people. In exploring the impacts at the local level, recent investigations with communities in Ilu Aba Bora Zone highlight adjustments in wetland use that famers attribute to environmental, economic and social change, but which also evidence the adaptive nature of wetland-based livelihoods.

Family Resemblances, Practical Interrelations and Material Extensions: Understanding Sexual Prohibitions, Production and Consumption in Kilimanjaro

Africa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knut Christian Myhre
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Local Mode ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Family Resemblances ◽  
Mode Of Life ◽  
Sub Saharan

AbstractThrough the ‘procreative paradigm’, sexuality and its relationships to other social practices have recently regained importance in the study of sub-Saharan Africa. Despite its apparent novelty, I argue that this paradigm invokes an anthropological approach that harks back to the discipline's beginnings. In an attempt at a fresh departure, I use Ludwig Wittgenstein's late philosophy to investigate the meaning of sexual prohibitions among the Chagga-speaking people of Rombo District, Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania. Starting from local linguistic usage, I describe the multiple ‘language-games’ of the vernacular notion of ‘power’,horu. In this manner, I demonstrate how production, reproduction and consumption are conceptually, practically and materially intertwined through the ‘family resemblances’ of this local concept.Horuis expended through productive practices; in multiple ways it is converted, transferred and exchanged between adults and children in reproduction; and it is replenished through the consumption of specific ‘powerful’ foods. By means of different objects, the activities of work, sex and feeding enable ‘power’ to flow between persons. The multiple vernacular usages of the notion ofhoru, and its practical and material concomitants, interrelate diverse spheres of social life in such a manner that they constitute an overlapping network that extends laterally. Human capability and well-being are constituted through participation in these activities, and engagement in the mutual flows, conversions and exchanges of ‘power’ that encompass humans, livestock and vegetable matter. The sexual prohibitions of Rombo regulate and channel these flows and conversions, in order to ensure their beneficial effects for the parties concerned. I therefore argue that the sexual prohibitions are notex post factointerpretations or justifications that explain or control preceding experiences, but rather that they are constitutive of the local mode of life. An appreciation of lateral relationships between concepts, practices and objects enables an evasion of some of the problems that arise from the procreative paradigm.

“It’s better I’m dead”: oppression and suicidal ideation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Reber
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Environmental Context ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Temporary Migrant ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
First Time

Purpose Anecdotal accounts of suicide among temporary low-wage migrant workers in the UAE are numerous, but unofficial and qualitative accounts remain unexplored. This study aims to examine how the socio-environmental context can lead some low-wage migrants, irrespective of their nationality or culture, to contemplate suicide for the first time after arriving in the host country. Design/methodology/approach The findings draw from ten months of qualitative fieldwork (2015–2016) and in-depth interviews conducted with 44 temporary migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, earning in the lowest wage bracket in Dubai. The study used a non-probabilistic, purposive sampling approach to select participants. Three criteria drove eligibility: participants had to reside in the UAE, be non-national and earn Dh1500 (US$408) or less a month. Otherwise, diversity was sought in regard to nationality, occupation and employer. Findings Eight (18%) of the 44 study participants interviewed admitted to engaging in suicidal thoughts for the first time after arriving in the UAE. The findings suggest that for low-wage migrants working in certain socio-environmental contexts, the religious, gendered or other cultural or group characteristics or patterns that may be predictors of suicide in migrants’ country of origin may become secondary or possibly even irrelevant when one is forced to survive under conditions that by most objective standards would be deemed not only oppressive but extremely exploitative and abusive. Originality/value This study contributes to understandings of how the emotional and psychological well-being of temporary foreign low-wage migrant workers can be impacted by the socio-environmental context of the host country. It is a first step in understanding the intimate thoughts of low-wage migrant workers on the topic of suicidality, furthering our understanding of suicidal ideation and the factors that can contribute to it.

Land conflicts and social differentiation in eastern Uganda

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Kandel
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Social Differentiation ◽  
Land Conflicts ◽  
Current Period ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
Eastern Uganda

ABSTRACTRising competition and conflict over land in rural sub-Saharan Africa continues to attract the attention of researchers. Recent work has especially focused on land governance, post-conflict restructuring of tenure relations, and large-scale land acquisitions. A less researched topic as of late, though one deserving of greater consideration, pertains to how social differentiation on the local-level shapes relations to land, and how these processes are rooted in specific historical developments. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Teso sub-region of eastern Uganda, this paper analyses three specific land conflicts and situates them within a broad historical trajectory. I show how each dispute illuminates changes in class relations in Teso since the early 1990s. I argue that this current period of socioeconomic transformation, which includes the formation of a more clearly defined sub-regional middle class and elite, constitutes the most prominent period of social differentiation in Teso since the early 20th century.

scholarly journals Foreign Direct Investment - Growth Linkage in Sub-Saharan Africa: Is Governance a Mediating Factor?

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-129
Author(s):  
Fisayo Fagbemi ◽  
Kehinde Mary Bello
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Investment Efficiency ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Sub Saharan

In sub – Saharan Africa, weak institutions and the rising concern for improved business environment offer considerable leverage for enhancing the effectiveness of institutional framework, capital inflows, and public investment efficiency. These have put SSA in the global spotlight in recent times. Hence, the study examines the mediating effect of governance on FDI – growth nexus in 35 SSA countries between 2002 and 2017 using panel data techniques (Pooled OLS, Fixed Effects, and Panel-Corrected Standard Error’ (PCSE) estimation) and the Dynamic One – Step Difference and System GMM. Results indicate that control of corruption, political stability and regulatory quality, including governance composite index, have a positive and significant effect on economic growth, suggesting that institutions have a salutary impact on SSA economies. The findings further show that FDI inflows adversely influence growth owing to insufficient absorptive capacity that could enhance FDI effectiveness in the region. More importantly, the pervasiveness of poor governance in SSA is identified as a critical case that undermines the development of the nexus between FDI and economic growth. Thus, the study suggests that FDI – growth linkage would be enhanced by promoting a strong institutional environment that offers a good mechanism for attaining the actual FDI spillover potential through a policy framework that points the path towards cost-effective measures in SSA. Also, there should be core investment policies across African countries that would induce the private sector in consolidating government efforts and resources aimed at improving international competitiveness by diversifying the region’s economies away from a protracted commodity – based.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document