Overview of Scholarship on the Political Resource Curse

This element documents the diversity and dissensus of scholarship on the political resource curse, diagnoses its sources, and directs scholarly attention towards what the authors believe will be more fruitful avenues of future research.

Regional Heterogeneity and Evidence

In the scholarship to date, there is substantial regional heterogeneity and substantial evidence denying the existence of a political resource curse. This dissensus is located in theory, measure, and research design, especially regarding measurement error and endogenous selection.

Strategies for Reconnecting Research

The work then turns to strategies for reconnecting research on resource politics to the broader literature on democratic development.

Research Findings

Finally, the results of the authors' own research is presented, showing that a set of historically contingent events in the Middle East and North Africa are at the root of what has been mistaken for a global political resource curse.