engleski

Natural Resources Management as a Factor of Underdevelopment and Social Inequality in the Gulf of Guinea Region

The paper studies natural resources management as a factor of underdevelopment and high levels of social inequality in the Gulf of Guinea countries. It is a well-known fact that the Gulf of Guinea region comprises several states that are very significant producers of oil, a primary natural resource of the region, but also of the contemporary world. Therefore, oil extraction and exports represent a lifeline for many of the world’s oil exporting countries. The main thesis of the paper is: long-term lagging behind in the development of most sectors of the economy, i.e. non-diversification of economy in the countries of the Gulf of Guinea is a product of overreliance on rents earned from the exports of natural resources, mainly oil. The afore-mentioned features of the Gulf of Guinea countries are the result of political decisions made by the regimes that keep themselves in power by means of rents obtained from the oil exports. These rents are mostly used for financing the state security apparatus loyal only to the regime, keeping the “internal peace” and the status quo in society through social care benefits. Economic growth indicators such as GDP and GDP per capita show that the Gulf of Guinea countries have experienced significant economic growth in the last decades. However, it seems that oil does not really benefit the economies and societies of the Gulf of Guinea countries. The region's reliance on oil exports represents the main factor preventing the diversification of economy in the oil exporting countries, thereby hindering the economic development and the improvement of living standard of the overwhelming majority of the population.

Gulf of Guinea region ; management ; natural resources ; social inequality ; underdevelopment

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