Book Review: Natural Resource-Based Development in Africa: Panacea or Pandora’s Box?
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00207020231163065 |
| Author | Gillian Hutchison |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Nathan Andrews, J. Andrew Grant and Jesse Salah Ovadia, eds.
Natural Resource-Based Development in Africa: Panacea or Pandora’s Box?
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022. 372 pp. $80 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-1-4875-0531-9
Reviewed by: Gillian Hutchison (Gillian Hutchison, Department of Politics, York University,
4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada. Email: ghutch@yorku.ca), Department of
Politics, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
DOI: 10.1177/00207020231163065
With the question “Panacea or Pandora’s Box?”, editors Nathan Andrews, J.
Andrew Grant, and Jesse Salah Ovadia examine a narrow dichotomy with respect
to a hugely variable region, but ultimately demonstrate that choosing one is not pos-
sible. Africa’s natural resources do offer a hypothetical remedy (a panacea) to its
historical, political, and sociological ills. However, the volume’s contributors high-
light that the continent’s geographical wealth also creates considerable challenges,
or a “Pandora’sBox.”The recognition of this false dichotomy is evident through
each chapter.
Generally, the book addresses land use in Africa. It largely considers mineral
miningandalsoacknowledgesoilandgasand agricultural ventures. In their
introduction, Andrews, Grant, Ovadia, and Adam Sneyd stress the (re)evolving
agenda of natural resources governance in Africa. While they recognise a “reju-
venated push,”because many hoped natural resources would be a “boon for
Africa’s development,”
1
the editors acknowledge the limited value of proposed
governance initiatives that potentially add layers of complexity for the conti-
nent’s development.
The second section of the book addresses governance and its changing focus with
respect to land use and extraction in mineral, oil and gas, and farming operations.
Chapters in this section speak to the social conflicts created by these economic ven-
tures. Authors discuss the extraction industries’notions of legitimacy, their contentious
histories, and the need for social license renewal. In sum, authors consider the compet-
ing necessities of exploration, extraction, and farming. They weigh these with the dis-
connect between expectations and reality for many stakeholders. For example, Abigail
Efua Hilson addresses powerful corporate influences and the accusation that “multina-
tional corporations take advantage of weak monitoring systems”
2
by governments.
Perception plays a significant role as governments, corporations, stakeholders, and
communities present competing claims of legitimacy to each other.
1 Nathan Andrews, J. Andrew Grant, Jesse Salah Ovadia, and Adam Sneyd, “An evolving agenda on natural
resource-based development in Africa,”in Natural Resource-Based Development in Africa: Panacea or
Pandora’s Box? (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022): 3.
2 Abigail Efua Hilson, “Stakeholder salience and resource enclavity in Sub-Saharan Africa: The case of
Ghana’s oil,”in Natural Resource-Based Development in Africa, 80.
Book Reviews 731
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