A New Book: The Scramble for African Oil

Oppression, Corruption and War for Control of Africa's Natural Resources     

Douglas A. Yates

PLUTO PRESS, 2012

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.

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).

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PART ONE: POWER FROM ABOVE

1. Foreign States and Trade Relations
– Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism and Globalization
– Reserves, Production, Peak Oil and War
– Case Study: Neo-Colonialism in Gabon
– French Domination by Elf-Gabon

2. Multinational Corporations and Nationalization
– The Legacy of Geography?
– The Legacy of Slavery?
– Case Study: Yankee Landlords of Cabinda
– Portuguese Colonialism, American Imperialism
– Angolan Nationalism and the MPLA

3. International Organization and Governance
– Improving Governance in Africa's Oil Sector
– International Organizations: TI, Global Witness, PWYP, EITI
– Case Study: Chad and the World Bank Model

4. Rentier States and Kleptocracy
– Oil Rent and the Rentier
– Rentier Mentality, Allocation State
– Spanish Guinea (1778-1968)
– Dictatorial Guinea

5. Praetorian Regimes and Terror
– Soldiers and Oil
– Typology of Military States
– The Military in Congo-Brazzaville
– From Praetorian Rule to Personal Dictatorship

PART TWO: POWER FROM BELOW

6. Journalists and Intellectuals
– The Treason of the Clerks
– Cameroon: the Agathon of Mongo Beti
– The Return to Cameroon

7. Political Parties and Elections
– Electoral Democracy in Africa
– Multiparty Democracy in Sao Tome E Principe
– Oil and Corruption in Multiparty Democracy

8. Armed Struggle for Independence
– Oil and War
– Regional Identity and Violence
– Southern Identity and Violence in Sudan
– John Garang and the 'New Sudan'

9. Popular Resistance and People Power
– Things Don't Fall Apart
– Oil and Violence in the Niger Delta
– Collapsing the Failed State

10. Unscrambling the Scramble for African Oil
– Solution 1: Controlling Corruption
– Solution 2: Direct Distribution of Oil Revenues
– Solution 3: Invest in Social Development
– Solution 4: Boycott African Oil
– Solution 5: Stop Consuming Oil

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