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The Scramble for African Oil: Oppression, Corruption and War for Control of Africa's Natural Resources (New Politics, Progressive Policy) [Hardcover]

Douglas A. Yates (Author)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 6 Jan 2012 | ISBN-10: 0745330460 | ISBN-13: 978-0745330464
Africa is often seen as a place to be pitied or feared as an area of instability. This book challenges these complacent assumptions, showing how our demand for oil contributes to the chronic problems plaguing the continent.

Douglas A. Yates shows how the 'scramble' by the great powers for African oil has fed corruption and undermined democracy. Yates documents how Africans have refused to remain passive in the face of such developments, forming movements to challenge this new attempt at domination.

This book is an urgent challenge to our understanding of Africa, raising questions about the consequences of our reliance on foreign resources. It will be vital reading for all those studying development and global political economy.

Product details

  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Pluto Press (6 Jan 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0745330460
  • ISBN-13: 978-0745330464
  • Product Dimensions: 13.5 x 2.3 x 21.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,632,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Douglas A. Yates
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Review

Essential reading for anyone seeking an understanding of the 'resource curse', the global exploitation of Africa's resources and the troubled state of African politics. Drawing on a detailed knowledge of the region, Douglas Yates does a remarkable job of exposing the predatory forces responsible for the continuing impoverishment of Africa's oil states - while also celebrating those heroic African figures who have resisted the onslaught. (Michael Klare, Professor of Peace and World Security Studies, Hampshire College and author of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy )

Yates brilliantly scales the walls of the oil fortress in Africa and shines a light into the complex politics - local, national and global - of the oil and gas industry and offers some insight into possible routes out of the swamp of failed oil-development. (Michael Watts, 'Class of 1963' Professor of Geography and Development Studies at the University of California, Berkeley )

About the Author

Douglas A. Yates is Professor of International Relations & Diplomacy at the American Graduate School, International & Comparative Politics at the American University of Paris, and Anglo-American Law at the University of Cergy-Pontoise. His most recent book is The French Oil Industry and the Corps des Mines in Africa (2009).

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Page turner, an eye opener 30 Dec 2012
By Gerald M. Williams
Format:Paperback
I have developed an interest in Oil Exploration and wanted to read wider than simply how do you get it out of the ground. I was not prepared for what I read but now having completed this excellent piece of work I can safely say that I will never look at the industry in the same way ever again. Nor will I look at oil politics, colonialism, or neo colonialism in the same way ever again - these terms were known to me but I never really paid any attention to what they REALLY meant. An outstanding piece of work that will become a reference piece of work - to be read over and over again - especially by me.
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Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars  2 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars "You can't unscramble eggs" 14 May 2012
By William Dorn - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Peak oil production is currently predicted for 2025, showing that oil demand is only increasing as supplies are starting to run low. Pressures facing Africa only pushes existing problems further. Many call it the `oil curse', which affects countries that are major oil providers and often fall under the waves of corruption, usually implying highly interrelated dysfunctions with security, economic, governmental, and political systems. Douglas Yates takes a careful and scientific approach to analyze these countries and see how oil production and dependency plays in the hands of corruption and exploitation making it clear that "the oil curse is not necessary."

It is interesting that Yates views Africa and natural resources from different perspectives by looking at power from the top, and looking at power from the bottom. The roles of journalists, intellectuals, multinational corporations (with high interest in Africa), and power from the people are all taken into consideration to make the best judgment and case analysis.

To "unscramble the scramble for African oil", Yates says "You can't unscramble eggs." The corruption, war, and bloodshed can't be reversed, undone, or simply forgotten. "Any real search for solutions to the oil curse must begin with a clear understanding of what cannot be changed." He suggests that higher compensation should be given to civil servants to reward acts linked to transparent and honest acts, which would reduce the need and greed for corruption. To pair this, tougher penalties would be needed for acts linked with corruption.

I recommend this book to those looking to understand Africa, and perhaps a glimpse towards the future.
5.0 out of 5 stars Fertile Soil for Evil Men 24 July 2012
By Robert Tulip - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
The world economy runs on oil. A lot of it flows from the African nations on the Gulf of Guinea.

The Chad-Cameroon pipeline provides a case study in The Scramble for African Oil of the negative impact of oil wealth. This $3.7 billion dollar project brought together oil firms, the World Bank, governments and civil society to use Chad's oil revenues for peace, poverty alleviation and development. The risks involved in trusting a collapsed extractive state became apparent when Chad's government diverted oil money to buy weapons, having led the development community on a merry dance.

Yates describes Chad's President as "an authoritarian dictator who spends his oil revenues to cling violently to power." Sadly, Chad seems typical of African oil states whose kleptocratic rulers are supported by the rich world's thirst for oil. Oil states serve the interests of their elites and their customers, not their citizens. While the oil flows, such states are sustainable as military dictatorships. They may be failed, but they are viable, providing what Yates calls "fertile soil for evil men." The proportion of Nigerians living on less than a dollar a day nearly doubled between 1970 and 2008, from 38% to over 70%.

Yates proposes control of corruption through incentives for honesty as one strategy to reduce the harm caused by oil. But such incentives are impossible when ruling elites use the sovereignty of their captured and corrupted state as a shield. Sanctions against corruption include visa denial for travel to Europe and the USA and due diligence from banks. But such steps seem unlikely while rich nations are conflicted over commercial and developmental priorities. Direct distribution of oil revenues to the poor is another strategy Yates supports to promote democratic governance and broad based economic growth. Mobile phone technology can make such transfers transparent and efficient at scale.

Solving the oil curse will not be easy or rapid. Yates has written a superb exposé of some troubled and ignored nations. Oil could drive sustainable development, but in Africa it appears to be entrenching war and poverty.
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