Can governments avoid the resource curse? TO: Workshop on Poorly Governed Resource-Dependent States FROM:

For some time, there was considerable debate over whether the resource curse existed at all. However, recent findings indicate that the resource curse is a very real problem that mainly affects states with weak institutions and poses important questions for US policymakers. Countries that depend on natural resources experience less growth, less democracy, and more war when they have weak institutions or high levels of poverty. They also experience more failure at post-conflict reconstruction than resource-poor states. In contrast, states that seem to avoid this resource curse—including Norway, Canada, and Botswana—boasted strong institutions when they discovered their resources. I first describe the recent findings and then their implications for US policy.