From Curse To Blessing?

This book investigates how revenues derived from natural resource exploitation can be translated into real benefits for the citizens of resource-rich countries

• Shows how despite unprecedentedly high prices of natural resources such as oil and gas on the global market, resource-rich countries are home to over 60% of the world’s poorest people
• Discusses the counterintuitive phenomenon known as the “resource curse” and how mineral wealth can impoverish countries
• Presents the major obstacles for the international community in the fight against poverty and in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
• Debates the ways to lift the curse, and suggests policy interventions to break the vicious circle
• Includes cross-country comparisons as well as focussing on countries such as Azerbaijan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and the Russian Federation