Politics of aid / Comment
Transparency as a Cure for the 'Resource Curse': global consensus and tasks pending for Spain
14/05/2007 By Nils-Sjard Schulz
The contradictory relationship between natural resource wealth and poverty in human development and governance, especially pronounced among the hydrocarbon-rich African countries, represents a complex challenge for industrialised nations highly dependent on these energy supplies.
In response to the ‘resource curse’ suffered by so many countries of the South, with its accompanying corruption and violence, a regime for transparency in the payments made by extractive multinationals has been created.
Representing an agreement between parties who in other circumstances would not readily collaborate, these new rules offer great potential for global governance.
While Spain has a notable interest in energy security, it has not yet shown a great deal of commitment to this new initiative, in spite of the significant potential it offers for achieving greater coherence in Spain’s Development Aid policy.
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Keywords
Coherence Energy Latin America & Caribbean North Africa Political economy Spanish Aid Sub-Saharan AfricaBio author: Nils-Sjard Schulz
Masters Degree in Social Sciences at the Humboldt University Berlin and specialization in International Relations at the Complutense University Madrid. Complementing his research on aid effectiveness, he works as an independent consultant. Recently, he collaborated with the Development Assistance Committee in the evaluation of the Paris Declaration (thematic study on aid effectiveness and development effectiveness) and the 2008 Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration.
