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31. The Internationalization of Oil Violence in the Niger Delta of Nigeria

Author:
Victor Ojakorotu
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
Institution:
Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
Abstract:
This paper unpacks the crisis in the Niger Delta of Nigeria with reference to its external dimensions by which is meant the involvement of international non-governmental organisations in the politics of local environmental governance. It takes as its point of departure the events (in the 1990s) that underpinned the international community's engagement with an issue that could have been regarded as Nigeria's domestic affair and follows with an assessment of the impact of internationalisation of the crisis on the major actors in the region. It is noted that the crisis in the Niger Delta has been predicated for over four decades on a number of complex issues in Nigeria's geo-political landscape. The emergence of organized pressure groups (in the early 1990s) and their protestations against human rights abuses and environmental problems in the region added a 'new' dimension to the crisis. In tackling its thematic concern, this paper interrogates the involvement of the international civil society in the Niger Delta and concludes with an appraisal of the extent to which the internationalisation of the crisis engendered both attitudinal and policy shifts on the part of the main actors.
Topic:
Political Violence, Civil Society, and Oil
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

32. Oil development in Africa: Lessons for Sudan after the comprehensive peace agreement

Author:
Luke Patey
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
In 1999, Sudan shipped its first barrel of oil to the international market. It did so with one civil war painfully continuing between the Khartoum government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army, unrest threatening the petroleum pathway along the pipeline route in the East, and a growing conflict in the western province of Darfur. This was not a rare occurrence in Africa. Nigeria and Angola had experienced the paradoxical duality of the economic progression of oil development; a one-sided affair simply benefiting the ruling elite, while the majority of the population suffered civil war and unrelenting poverty. However, unlike previous cases of the 'resource curse' in Africa, what seems to be a growing trend took shape in Sudan with the engagement of Asian investors, particularly China, in the development of its oil industry. While Asian investment initially took place alongside Western oil companies, state-owned enterprises from China, Malaysia, and India later came to dominate the sector. Nonetheless, whether this investment will deviate from the historical norm of fuelling civil war and underdevelopment has yet to be seen.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Civil War, and Oil
Political Geography:
Africa, China, Sudan, Darfur, Malaysia, India, Nigeria, Angola, and Khartoum

33. Covering Oil: A Reporter's Guide to Energy and Development

Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
In most resource-rich countries, natural wealth does not translate into prosperity for the majority of inhabitants, but instead leads to environmental and economic devastation, and hampers democratic reform. Only an informed public can hold leaders to account. Yet local reporting often overlooks the legal, economic, and environmental implications of resource extraction. Covering Oil: A Reporter's Guide to Energy and Development, a collaborative work of the Open Society Foundation's Revenue Watch program and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, aims to encourage rigorous reporting on these issues by providing practical information about the petroleum industry and the impact of resource wealth on a producing country. The guidebook comes out of a series of workshops for journalists in the oil-exporting countries of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria, during which participants expressed a need for more information to help them understand the issues surrounding resource exploitation. In response to these consultations, Covering Oil outlines the fundamentals of petroleum contracts, provides a glossary of relevant economic theory, and presents case studies of major public policy issues. Covering Oil is the second in a series of Revenue Watch guidebooks targeting various audiences involved in the promotion of transparency and democratic accountability. The first, Follow the Money: A Guide to Monitoring Budgets and Oil and Gas Revenues, was aimed at nongovernmental organizations.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Oil, Natural Resources, Democracy, Journalism, and Fossil Fuels
Political Geography:
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Nigeria