Fuelling War or Buying Peace: The Role of Corruption in Conflicts

conflict, corruption, structural change

Resources for Peace? Managing Revenues from Extractive Industries in Post-Conflict Environments

Revenues from extractive sectors such as oil and gas, minerals, and logging play an important role in many post-conflict environments, often providing more than 30% of state fiscal receipts. When managed well, these revenues can help to finance postwar reconstruction and other vital peace-related needs. When mismanaged, however, resource revenues can undermine both economic performance and the quality of governance, thereby heightening the risk of renewed violence. This paper offers a number of proposals for managing revenues from extractive industries to better support peacebuilding.Extractive resources; oil revenues; peacebuilding; revenue-sharing

Conflict In Africa: The Cost of Peaceful Behaviour

aid, conflict, natural resources, sub-Saharan Africa

Finance in Conflict and Reconstruction

aid, conflict, financial development, sub-Saharan Africa

Financial Reconstruction in Conflict and 'Post-Conflict' Economies

aid, conflict, financial development, sub-Saharan Africa

Foreign Aid, Resource Rents and Institution-Building in Mozambique and Angola (Wider Working Paper No. 2013/102)

Sharing similar colonial and post-independence civil war experiences, Mozambique and Angola’s development paths are often contrasted, with foreign aid-dependent Mozambique hailed a success compared to oil rentier Angola. This paper questions the so-called Mozambican miracle and contrasts it with Angola’s trajectory over the past two decades. Paying attention to the political trajectory of the ruling parties as well as the different timing and conditions linked to the post-war political economy transition, we discuss differences and similarities in the post-conflict reconstruction trajectory, policy space, and relative institutional fragility. We suggest that large aid flows to Mozambique have contributed to a relaxation of its government’s urgency in creating the financial structure capable of capturing rents from natural resources in contrast to Angola, while the relative absence of official development aid has led Angolan elites to seek tenure prolongation partly through high rent capture and incipient socialization of massive oil rents. We conclude by discussing the likely consequences of these factors in terms of the relative ‘fragility’ and ‘robustness’ of both states, and discuss implications for foreign assistance

Ocean defenders and human rights

Two pressing and overlapping marine policy issues are related to human rights in the ocean and the situation of ocean defenders. Human rights issues and violations are on the rise in the ocean due to the ongoing, rapid and unchecked escalation of anthropogenic activities in marine and coastal environments, which increasingly undermine the fundamental, civil and political, economic, social, cultural or environmental rights of individuals and groups. In this context, it is essential to recognize, support and safeguard the individuals, groups or communities who are mobilizing, advocating or taking action to protect the marine environment, coastal and oceanic territories, and associated human rights from existential threats. Yet, these ‘ocean defenders’ often face marginalization, intimidation, criminalization, threats, violence and murders. The failure to protect the human rights of coastal populations and ocean defenders needs to be urgently rectified by states, the private sector and civil society. We identify six specific areas of urgent action to protect human rights in and related to marine and coastal environments and to support and safeguard ocean defenders