Extractive industries in Africa

Natural resources have always conditioned and shaped development globally. They are sources of raw materials, economic growth, exports, revenue, employment, and feed into technological development. Nevertheless, scepticism abounds concerning the relationship between natural resources and development and the improvement of livelihoods in Africa. This chapter interrogates trends, concepts, theories, and developments in Africa’s extractive industries space. We argue that the scale and importance of natural resources in Africa vary, with some countries being overly dependent on these resources for exports and revenues. The social construction of natural resources, an interface between resources, social systems, politics, and technologies, underpin utility. This chapter does not focus on specificities of extractive resources because of the multiplicity of extractive industries, with multiple and heterogenous effects and outcomes in terms of growth, governance, and conflict. Broadly speaking, we argue that the implications of extractive industries on economic advancement are partly dependent on how diversified economies are, existing institutional arrangements and integration into the global economic value chains. Different approaches are however used in studying the impact of natural resources - resource curse, governance curse, and globalised assemblage. Extractive industries, their conditions, and operations are a function and product of globalised assemblages, comprising local, national, and international actors and power structures. There is the need to follow the diverse and competing actors, interests, and contingent power relations to map the complex politics of natural resource extraction in Africa and its development outcomes.