Rammes Østafrika af oliens svøbe ligesom Vestafrika (Angola)?

Avoiding Africa’s oil curse (svøbe) – Will East Africa repeat the same development mistakes as West Africa? Also: The case of ANGOLA

TIME: Friday, 24 April at15.00 – 16.30 hours

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Auditorium, Gl. Kalkbrænderi Vej 51 A (close to Nordhavn S-station), Cop Ø 

Avoiding Africa’s oil curse (svøbe) – Will East Africa repeat the same development mistakes as West Africa? Also: The case of ANGOLA

TIME: Friday, 24 April at15.00 – 16.30 hours

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Auditorium, Gl. Kalkbrænderi Vej 51 A (close to Nordhavn S-station), Cop Ø 

The seminar will be conducted in English.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use our online registration form on

https://conferencemanager.events/Avoiding-Africas-oil-curse/sign-up.html

And do so no later than Thursday, 23 April 2015 at 12.00 noon.

Background – East Africa on the brink?

East Africa is in the early stages of a resource boom. Uganda is preparing to bring its oil reserves on-stream and begin exports by the end of the decade.

Oil discoveries in Kenya promise to bolster its position as a regional hub and as an African economic heavyweight.

Meanwhile large gas deposits found off the coast of Tanzania may transform its economy and role in the region.

Yet even before the first barrels of oil have been brought out of the ground, questions have been raised whether these East African countries – all Danish development partners – will fall into the familiar trap of the resource curse.

Known only too well on the other side of the African continent in oil-rich West African countries such as Angola and Nigeria, the resource curse is a paradox of high-valued resources, such as oil and gas, leading to poor development outcomes, conflict and instability.

This seminar will explore the cases of Angola, Uganda, and Tanzania to open a discussion on whether East Africa can avoid the same development mistakes as West Africa.

The seminar is also a book launch for Ricardo Soares de Oliveira’s new book, “Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola since the Civil War” (Hurst, 2015).

The case of remarkable Angola

The book is a powerful account of fast-changing dynamics in Angola, an important African state that is a key exporter of oil and diamonds and a growing power on the continent.

Based on three years of research and extensive first-hand knowledge of Angola, the book documents the rise of a major economy and its insertion in the international system since it emerged in 2002 from one of Africa’s longest and deadliest civil wars.

The government, backed by a strategic alliance with China and working hand in glove with hundreds of thousands of expatriates, many from the former colonial power, Portugal, has pursued an ambitious agenda of state-led national reconstruction.

This has resulted in double-digit (to-cifret) growth in Sub-Saharan Africa’s third largest economy and a state budget in excess of total western aid to the entire continent.

Scarred by a history of slave trading, colonial plunder and war, Angolans now aspire to the building of a decent society.

How has the regime, led by President José Eduardo dos Santos since 1979, dealt with these challenges, and can it deliver on popular expectations?

Soares de Oliveira’s book charts the remarkable course the country has taken in recent years.

Speakers

* Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Associate Professor, University of Oxford

* George Boden, Lead campaigner, Uganda, Global Witness

* Rasmus Hundsbæk Pedersen, Postdoc, DIIS

* Luke Patey, Senior Researcher, DIIS
 

Programme

Læs videre på http://www.diis.dk/event/avoiding-africas-oil-curse

A limited number of copies of the book will be on sale at the event for a special seminar price of 200 kr. 

Please bring the exact amount in cash. Payment by card is not possible.