rssThe ‘Resource Curse’ Comes to Afghanistan
Monday, June 14, 2010 at 8:34 am
- 33 Comments
After 30 years of war, Afghanistan’s economy is based around opium and foreign aid. But an important New York Times piece reports that geological data indicate that Afghanistan actually possesses an estimated trillion-with-a-T dollars’ worth of mineral wealth. And that’s most likely a bad thing.
Why? Because in emerging and underdeveloped states, weak legal systems and official corruption create incentives for powerful people to exploit those resources, rather than allow mineral wealth to fuel national renewal. Think Congo or Sierra Leone. It’s easy to tick off the ways in which what political scientists call the “Resource Curse” applies to Afghanistan: a tenuous legal structure; warlordism; war; foreign interventionism; corruption throughout the political system; an uneasy and unstable relationship between provincial and national authorities; and an uneasy and unstable relationship in provinces and districts with instruments of local governance as well as national governance.
Blake Hounshell at Foreign Policy pronounces himself skeptical that Afghanistan will ever be able to develop the full potential of its mineral wealth and thinks U.S. officials fed the Times the piece to distract from a spate of bad Afghanistan news. But that’s all commensurate with a central aspect of the Resource Course: rapacious foreign governments and corporations eager to help extract all that iron, lithium, copper and cobalt from the ground for a cut-rate price.
Follow Spencer Ackerman on Twitter
33 Comments
Pingback posted June 14, 2010 @ 8:57 am
[...] full post on The Washington Independent Don't miss a single post! Subscribe to my RSS [...]
Pingback posted June 14, 2010 @ 9:01 am
[...] The 'Resource Curse' Comes to Afghanistan « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted June 14, 2010 @ 9:02 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Martha Weaver, WashIndependent. WashIndependent said: The 'Resource Curse' Comes to Afghanistan – http://bit.ly/bHJbfb [...]
Pingback posted June 14, 2010 @ 4:08 pm
[...] Yes, because citizens of underdeveloped countries that suddenly find themselves in the midst of resource wealth a…. [...]
Pingback posted June 14, 2010 @ 4:32 pm
[...] clear who this propaganda about Afghanistan’s minerals is aimed at, is it working? See for yourself: in emerging and underdeveloped states, weak legal systems and official corruption create [...]
Pingback posted June 14, 2010 @ 4:51 pm
[...] clear who this propaganda about Afghanistan’s minerals is aimed at, is it working? See for yourself: in emerging and underdeveloped states, weak legal systems and official corruption create [...]
Pingback posted June 14, 2010 @ 6:05 pm
[...] that we're clear who this propaganda about Afghanistan's minerals is aimed at, is it working? See for yourself: in emerging and underdeveloped states, weak legal systems and official corruption create [...]
Pingback posted June 14, 2010 @ 7:03 pm
[...] clear who this propaganda about Afghanistan’s minerals is aimed at, is it working? See for yourself: in emerging and underdeveloped states, weak legal systems and official corruption create [...]
Pingback posted June 15, 2010 @ 12:23 am
[...] clear who this propaganda about Afghanistan’s minerals is aimed at, is it working? See for yourself: in emerging and underdeveloped states, weak legal systems and official corruption create [...]
Pingback posted June 15, 2010 @ 1:34 pm
[...] Now that we’re clear who this propaganda about Afghanistan’s minerals is aimed at, is it working? See for yourself: [...]
Pingback posted June 15, 2010 @ 3:12 pm
[...] The ‘Resource Curse’ Comes to Afghanistan « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted June 15, 2010 @ 6:58 pm
[...] The ‘Resource Curse’ Comes to Afghanistan « The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted June 16, 2010 @ 1:46 am
[...] Washington Independent‘s Comes to Afghanistan”>Spencer Ackerman, noting that “Afghanistan’s economy is based around opium and foreign aid,” [...]
Pingback posted June 16, 2010 @ 11:03 am
[...] Washington Independent’s Spencer Ackerman, noting that “Afghanistan’s economy is based around opium and foreign aid,” [...]
Pingback posted June 16, 2010 @ 12:20 pm
[...] K?? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ???????? ?? ???????????, ??????? ???????? ???????????? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ? ?????????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ??? ??????????, ?????????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ????????. ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ?????????? ??? ??? “?????? ??? ??????? ???????” – ????????? ?? ??????, ?? ???????, ?? ?????? ?????. The ‘Resource Curse’ Comes to Afghanistan-The Washington Independent [...]
Trackback posted August 21, 2011 @ 10:44 pm
Sites we Like…
[...] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose [...]…
Trackback posted August 22, 2011 @ 4:36 pm
US Immigration…
[...]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[...]…
Trackback posted August 22, 2011 @ 6:41 pm
outdoor wall fountain…
[...]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[...]…
Trackback posted August 23, 2011 @ 2:35 am
Investing for Beginners…
Perfect story, reckoned we would combine some unrelated data, although still worth having a look……
Trackback posted August 25, 2011 @ 12:53 am
pampered chef deluxe…
[...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]…
Trackback posted August 25, 2011 @ 12:57 pm
nwt betsey johnson…
[...]while the sites we link to below are completely unrelated to ours, we think they are worth a read, so have a look[...]…
Trackback posted August 25, 2011 @ 1:16 pm
Sites We Like…
[...]just below, are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they are definitely worth checking out[...]…
Trackback posted August 31, 2011 @ 4:56 am
Clubpenguin…
[...]listed here are a few references to internet pages that we connect to for the fact we believe there’re truly worth browsing[...]…
Trackback posted September 1, 2011 @ 8:51 pm
Netflix…
[...]right here are some url links to websites that we link to seeing that we feel there’re worthwhile checking out[...]…
Trackback posted September 3, 2011 @ 8:53 am
Business Ecommerce web design…
[...]check out the sites listed below, worth a read for ecommerce and web design enthusiasts[...]…
Trackback posted September 4, 2011 @ 5:28 am
Buy best med supplies…
[...]underneath ??u w?ll find web anchor links th?t w?ll point t? websites I th?nk y?u sh?ul? visit[...]…
Trackback posted September 4, 2011 @ 2:28 pm
man with a van…
[...]just below, are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they are definitely worth checking out[...]…
Trackback posted September 4, 2011 @ 10:46 pm
free online war strategy games…
[...]What a great quality article! This is awesome content with thoughtful viewpoints and persuasive content. I’ve learned some new things about this subject. I am totally impressed with writing style and presentation. Although unrelated to my blog, wo…
Trackback posted September 6, 2011 @ 1:46 pm
Amy Winehouse…
[...]in the following are a few url links to websites that we connect to as we believe they will be well worth checking out[...]…
Trackback posted September 7, 2011 @ 1:15 am
20/20 vision is achievable…
[...]other sites we lіke because thеy аrе worthy being read[...]…
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
