Design, data mining and analysis of hyperactive environments

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-105).by Michael M. Kashambuzi.S.M

Resource governance dynamics: The challenge of 'new oil' in Uganda

Resource governance norms have evolved at multiple scales to counter the potential negative socio-economic, environmental and institutional impacts of the extractive industries. Advocates of these 'good governance' initiatives have sought to mainstream transparency throughout the extractive industries value chain and implement pro-poor projects at the site level. However, these types of resource governance interventions often fall short of their promised development benefits. Poorly understood is how the process of resource extraction and the expectation of supposed revenue windfalls affect the governance dynamics of host countries and localities. Using a qualitative and inductive approach this paper highlights emerging spaces of governance within a new petro-state, Uganda. The research findings highlight four significant governance gaps: lack of coherence among civil society organisations (CSOs); limited civil society access to communities and the deliberate centralisation of oil governance; industry-driven interaction at the local level; and weak local government capacity. The ad hoc and fragmented modes of resource governance in the oil bearing regions, particularly related to transparency and corporate social responsibility activities, do not bode well for this new petro-state's development trajectory. By identifying how spaces of resource governance emerge in new resource contexts, more proactive and timely interventions can be designed and implemented by state and non-state actors

Responding to the commodity boom with varieties of resource nationalism: a political economy explanation for the different routes taken by Africa’s new oil producers

The institutional responses of Africa’s new producers to the early 21st century commodity boom differed both between and within countries over time. Despite making similarly sized discoveries in the mid-2000s, Ghana and Uganda took different routes, with Ghana oscillating between a neoliberal modality and a soft version of resource nationalism (depending on which party was in power), whilst Uganda adopted a more consistent and robust resource nationalist position. Current explanations for varieties of resource governance tend to focus on either institutions or ideas. We argue for an alternative theoretical perspective that locates the entwined role of both institutions and ideas within a deeper analysis of a country’s ‘political settlement’. This offers a more compelling explanation for varied institutional responses to the commodity boom in sub-Saharan Africa, and suggests that different types of political settlements have had significant implications for how oil governance has progressed in different contexts