Prospects and Trends in the Governance of Africa’s Natural Resources: Reflections on the Role of External and Internal Actors

Contemporary studies of Africa’s natural resource sectors are concerned with concepts such as governance, transnational m, regionalism (s), ‘network’/’public’ diplomacy, norms (e.g., good governance and corporate social responsibility), and conflict commodities. By way of conclusion, this chapter aims not only to identify and elaborate upon the most important theoretical, empirical, and policy trends associated with these concepts and place them in a broader perspective but also to reflect upon what generalizations may be made regarding the diffusion of such concepts and their impact on governance in Africa’s natural resource sectors. To this end, the chapter is divided into five main sections. The first section revisits the theme of oil in Africa by examining the shift away from privileging a focus on energy ‘security’ towards the embracing of a new agenda on energy ‘governance’. This provides us with a new lens to understand why governance challenges in the oil sector (and other natural resource sectors) must move beyond dominant state-centric approaches. The second section explores the prospects and trends in Africa’s natural resources by focusing on a series of interrelated themes around the continent’s most important resource — land. This section is divided into three subsections that explore the following issues related to the governance of land in Africa: the rise of land grabs, the growth of Chinese investments in Africa’s natural resource sectors, and land conflicts and the politics around land reform.