The Scramble for African Oil

Douglas A. Yates

Description

This is a history of the abuses suffered by Africa through colonial, imperial and capitalistic scrambles for oil that have plagued the continent for centuries. France, the US, Portugal, Spain and other western nations have continually plundered Africa’s resources, leading to political corruption and the annihilation of democracy that continues to this day.



Extraordinary stories reach far into the depths of domination and control. Neo-colonialism in Gabon, Yankee Landlords of Cabinda and the World Bank in Chad are explored, as is the growth of kleptocracy, the rise of multinational corporations and the legacy of slavery.



Concluding with evidence of how Africans have refused to remain passive in the face of such developments, forming movements to challenge this new attempt at domination, this book challenges our understanding of Africa, raising questions about the consequences of our reliance on foreign resources.
Introduction

Part I: Power From Above

1. Foreign States and Trade Relations

2. Multinational Corporations and Nationalization

3. International Organization and Governance

4. Rentier States and Kleptocracy

5. Praetorian Regimes and Terror

Part II: Power From Below

6. Journalists and Intellectuals

7. Political Parties and Elections

8. Armed Struggle for Independence

9. Popular Resistance and People Power

10. Unscrambling the Scramble for African Oil

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• International Relations
• Political Science
• Industries
• África
• Energy
• Énergie
• Africa
• Industrie

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 06 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849646291
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Scramble for African Oil
New Politics, Progressive Policy
Series Editors: Sheila D. Collins, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, William Paterson University and Bradley Macdonald, Professor of Political Science, Colorado State University
New Politics, Progressive Policy , explores the changing configurations of world power and their implications for politics and policy in the twenty-first century. The series consists of politically engaged books that explore both the new challenges and progressive openings that are presented by the erosion of American hegemony and the jockeying for power among emerging economies, the positive and negative implications of non-state actors-social movements, NGOs, terrorists, global finance-and the challenges to global stability posed by climate change, global economic meltdown and inequality within and among nations. The series aims to provide scholars, students, researchers, policy makers, political activists, and the general public with a critical analysis of the political, economic and cultural developments generated by these changing configurations of power. These books may represent new theoretical approaches to important political/policy issues; comparative politics and policy studies; a new way of looking at a policy arena; emerging trends in political development and international relations; or revisionist readings of history. New Politics, Progressive Policy reflects the political vision of the Caucus for a New Political Science of the American Political Science Association, the largest and most progressive caucus within the association.
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First published 2012 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
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Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Copyright Douglas A. Yates 2012
The right of Douglas A. Yates to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Contents


List of Tables, Figures, Boxes and Maps
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I: POWER FROM ABOVE
1 Foreign States and Trade Relations
2 Multinational Corporations and Nationalization
3 International Organization and Governance
4 Rentier States and Kleptocracy
5 Praetorian Regimes and Terror
PART II: POWER FROM BELOW
6 Journalists and Intellectuals
7 Political Parties and Elections
8 Armed Struggle for Independence
9 Popular Resistance and People Power
10 Unscrambling the Scramble for African Oil
Bibliography
Index
List of Tables, Figures, Boxes and Maps


TABLES


2.1 Rulers of African oil-rentier states (2009)
3.1 Do oil initiatives cause better governance?
3.2 Control of Corruption
3.3 Regulatory Quality
3.4 Political Stability
3.5 Government Effectiveness
3.6 Voice and Accountability
3.7 Rule of Law
3.8 Effects of transparency initiatives on governance
3.9 Bad governance in Chad 1996-2007
5.1 Coups d tat and civil wars in African oil states
6.1 Civil liberties and press freedom in African oil states
7.1 Liberal democracy in African oil states
7.2 Presidents and prime ministers of S o Tom e Pr ncipe
8.1 Selected armed struggles for self-determination in oil-rich regions of African states

FIGURES


4.1 Rentier space model
4.2 Chain of causality in a rentier state
5.1 Political stability and economic development under military rule
7.1 Origins of political parties in S o Tom e Pr ncipe

BOXES


2.1 Biogeography
2.2 Capitalism and colonialism
2.3 Theory of collaboration
5.1 Why military regimes civilianize
5.2 Six dimensions of military style
6.1 The treason of the intellectuals
7.1 How free is S o Tom ?
8.1 Ideoligical objectives of the Sudan People s Liberation Movement

MAPS


1.1 China in African oil since 1988
1.2 Gabon
2.1 Cabinda enclave, Angola
3.1 Oil governance in Africa: EITI and PWYP
3.2 Chad-Cameroon pipeline
4.1 Equatorial Guinea
5.1 Congo-Brazzaville
6.1 Cameroon
7.1 S o Tom e Pr ncipe
8.1 Sudan
9.1 Nigeria
Abbreviations and Acronyms

ADI
Ac o Democr tica Independent
BEAC
Central Bank of Equatorial Africa
BPI
Bribe Payer s Index
BRP
Bureau de Recherches de P trole
CAR
Central African Republic
CNOC
Chinese National Oil Company
CNU
Cameroon National Union
CPI
Corruption Perception Index
EITI
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
ERHC
Environmental Remediation Holding Corporation
FAC
Forces Arm es Congolaises
FIBA
Banque Fran aise Intercontinentale
FLEC
Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda
FNLA
National Liberation Front of Angola
GCB
Global Corruption Barometer
HDI
Human Development Index
IACC
International Anti-Corruption Conference
IMF
International Monetary Fund
JDA
Joint Development Agency
JDZ
Joint Development Zone
JNOP
Japanese National Oil Company
MDFM
Movimento Democratico For as da Mudan a (S o Tom e Pr ncipe)
MLSTP
Movimento de Liberta o de S o Tom e Pr ncipe
MNC
multinational corporation
MNR
Mouvement National de la Revolution
MPLA
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
NGO
non-governmental organization
ONGC
Indian Oil and National Gas Corporation
PCD
Partido de Converg ncia Democratic
PCT
Congolese Labor Party
PDGE
Partido Democratico de Guinea Ecuatorial
OPEC
Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries
PDVSA
Petr leos de Venezuela
PWYP
Publish What You Pay
Sinopec
China Petroleum and Chemicals Company
STPetro
Sociedade Nactional de Petr leo de S o Tom e Pr ncipe
SOGARA
Soci t Gabonaise de Raffinage
Sonangol
Sociedade Na ionao de Combustiveis
SPAEF
Soci t des P troles d Afrique Equatoriale Fran aise
SPLA
Sudan People s Liberation Army
MLSTP
Movimento de Liberta o de S o Tom e Pr ncipe
TI
Transparency International
UNIPEC
China International United Petroleum and Chemicals Company
UNITA
National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
UPC
Union des Populations du Cameroun
USCG
United States Geological Survey
WGI
World Governance Indicators (of the World Bank)
Acknowledgements

Over the past 20 years there has been a handful of professor/mentors including Edouard Bustin, David Gardinier, and Irene Gendzier, who have helped me to advance with my larger research agenda on African oil. Thanks also to John Berg I presented my research in Fukuoka, Japan, at the world congress of the International Political Science Association, where Georgy Kastiaficas invited me to propose my book project for the New Political Science series. Later on Sheila Collins took over, and sent the proposal on to Pluto Press David Castle, who then involved Will Viney, Sian Mills, and Robert Webb, and Melanie Patrick on my project. Others who have had a hand either in the reviewing, editing, or directly/indirectly contributing to my long-term research for this book include: Tim Hughes, Andreas Mehler, Rudolf Traub-Merz, Matthias Basedau, Ian Gary, Adekeye Adebayo, Kaye Whiteman, Antoine Glaser, Brent Gregston, Geert van Vliet, Alain Beltran, Karen Klieman, and Kenneth Omeje. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, William and JoAnn, my brother James, and my wife Corentine, for their longtime support.
Introduction

The oil curse is a shorthand expression that denotes a series of dysfunctions-economic, political, governmental, and security-which are strongly associated with oil-dependency. Oil-dependent countries suffer from enclave industrialization, limited economic diversification, and vulnerability to price shocks, decay in their manufacturing and agricultural sectors, declining terms of trade, misguided economic policies, and a fundamental neglect of human capital. Economically these states have tended to neglect their human development because they are blinded by their resource wealth, which transforms them into oil-rentier economies. But in addition to these economic effects, African oil states also suffer from global patterns of domination and dependence, in some cases neocolonialism, in all cases multinational corporate exploitation, and well-intentioned but dangerous meddling in their governance by international organizations. Furthermore, they are postcolonial states, already fragile, that have been weakened by the corrupting influences of oil money, with their leaders reduced to kleptocrats, their civilian regimes transformed into brutal police states, and aggravating a regional tendency of military rule, their armed forces turned into praetorian cliques, personal despotisms and veritable reigns of terror. Beneath these aberrations of state power live poor and deprived societies that have been traumatized by five centuries of bloody exploitation, handicapped by low levels of education and health, primitive economies of accumulation, high rates of unemployment, limited capital, and few opportunities for advancement. Torn by violent conflicts based on ethnocentrism, unfair distribution