Africa and Climate Change: Impacts, Policies and Stance Ahead of Cancún (ARI)

Raúl Iván Alfaro-Pelico. ARI 173/2010 - 15/12/2010.

This analysis reviews the effects of climate change in Africa, the response measures undertaken in the continent and the expected position of African countries in Cancún, Mexico.

The ‘Resource Curse’: Theory and Evidence (ARI)

Jonathan Di John. ARI 172/2010 - 15/12/2010.

Mineral and fuel abundance does not determine either the political or economic trajectory of less developed countries.

Links between Resource Extraction, Governance and Development: African Experience (ARI)

Richard Auty. ARI 171/2010 - 13/12/2010.

This ARI addresses the analytical and empirical links between resource extraction, governance and development, with a focus on the resource-curse thesis. The rent curse is rooted in policy failure, which the theory of rent cycling attributes to the impact of rent on elite incentives and also on development trajectory. The paper provides some examples of conditions that have facilitated this process in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Policy Challenge for Sub-Saharan Africa of Large-Scale Chinese FDI (ARI)

Raphael Kaplinsky and Mike Morris. ARI 169/2010 - 30/11/2010.

The existence of large state-owned Chinese firms and private investors engaged in investing primarily, but not exclusively, in resource and infrastructure sectors in SSA (Sub-Saharan Africa) is a major preoccupation in economic and political circles. In order to understand it, Chinese investment has to be differentiated into four different types, and its distinctive characteristic unpacked –ie, the bundling together of aid, trade and FDI (foreign direct investment)–. This has major policy implications for how SSA should relate to Chinese investors in order to maximise available opportunities.

Southern Sudan Before the ‘Referendum for Freedom’ (ARI)

Daniel Large. ARI 167/2010 - 24/11/2010.

Southern Sudan’s historic referendum on whether to stay in or secede from a united Sudan is rapidly approaching. The political tide is flowing toward an independent country but the politics of Sudan’s North-South political transition remain beset with challenges.

The EU and Climate Change in the lead up to Cancún: Impacts, Policies and Positions (ARI)

Anthony Hobley and Dominic Adams. ARI 166/2010 - 24/11/2010.

This paper analyses the main consequences of climate change for the EU, the mitigation and adaptation policies it has undertaken and the negotiating stance it will adopt in the international climate-change negotiations.

Cultural Change for a Bearable Climate (ARI)

Erik Assadourian. ARI 163/2010 - 17/11/2010.

Stabilising the climate and curbing ecological decline more broadly will take nothing less than transforming cultural systems so that living sustainably becomes as natural as living as a consumer feels today. To do that, it will be necessary to harness leading societal institutions just as consumer interests did in the past century, when they so effectively normalised consumerism.

China in Ghana: Easing the Shift from Aid Dependency to Oil Economy? (ARI)

Giles Mohan. ARI 149/2010 - 15/10/2010.

The author examines recent changes in the Ghanaian aid and investment landscape as China has stepped up its relations with this donor ‘darling’. Recent oil discoveries further transform the financing scenarios and more established donors are concerned about the riskiness of this. These tensions reveal wider differences in approaches to development and the desires of many African governments which could herald big changes in the ethos and practice of development.

The BP Spill: A Policy Turning Point or a Further Case of Fickle Social Ripples? (ARI)

Paul Isbell and Lara Lázaro. ARI 140/2010 - 24/9/2010.

Despite the preliminary nature of the available data, what are the underlying, intermediate and proximate causes of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, its main consequences and possible future developments?

Governance, Growth and Development (ARI)

Mushtaq H. Khan. ARI 138/2010 - 17/9/2010.

The promotion of ‘good governance’ has become one of the pillars of development policies proposed by a large majority of development aid agencies. It is based on the view that ‘good governance’ is a pre-requisite for development. The author critically reviews the relationship between governance, growth and development and draws implications that are relevant for Sub-Saharan African countries.