This paper reviews the political economy of extractive resources and the associated resources sector governance agenda. The consensus that good sector governance improves the developmental impacts of extractive resources exploitation is premised on the understanding that institutions matter for...

"A re-conceptualisation of the widely-held concept of the "resource curse," which contends that resource booms inevitably lead to numerous political, social and economic problems. This book counters that these problems are by no means inevitable, but are rather the direct result of specific...

In Kazakhstan, civil society is held back and has had a limited role in the management of the petroleum sector. As this chapter notes, civil society has had little experience of promoting its own interests vis-à-vis the state, and public discussion of natural resource issues has been mainly...