Power and poverty on Africa's new oil map
Before the dramatic fall in international oil prices over the past year, a decade-long commodity super-cycle helped unlock oil resources in frontier markets across Africa. High oil prices brought hundreds of billions of dollars into the continent, giving political leaders in Africa’s petro-states the means to cement their power at home, but also wrestle a larger share of their energy stakes from western and Chinese oil companies alike.
DIIS senior researcher Luke Patey reviewsAfrica’s New Oil: Power, Pipelines, and Future Fortunesfor Open Democracy. Patey argues that instead of an exploitative relationship in which Western oil majors and Chinese oil giants are the only winners in developing African oil, Africa’s political elite hold influential power over these external actors in achieving their own narrow interests.
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