Call for Papers: Special Issue on ‘Natural Resources and Subnational Constituencies: Is the Resource Curse Local?’

Nov 30, 2017 | Osmel Manzano (IESA) and Juan David Gutiérrez (Oxford University)
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Most of the literature on the natural resource curse has focused on macroeconomic channels, and more specifically on the fiscal channel and rent sharing issues. However, the resource sector also interacts with subnational governments, local economies, and communities. The channels that operate at the local level are relevant, but the literature on these issues is still nascent. The emerging literature on the subnational resource curse argues that local governments face similar difficulties and risks as national governments when dealing with abundance of non-renewable resource revenues: rent-seeking incentives for public and private actors, pressures to spend without sufficient planning, increased corruption, heightened social conflicts, and even the appropriation of resource rents by non-state armed groups. Yet, when confronted by empirical data the research on the existence of a subnational resource is less conclusive than the national resource curse literature.

The objective of this special issue is to dedicate space for a set of papers that study empirical evidence (quantitative and qualitative) on the impact of the extraction of hydrocarbons and minerals with a subnational perspective. Submissions that address the effects of the last commodity boom at the subnational level, discussion of the existence of the subnational curse, its transmission channels, and policy implications for governments are particularly welcomed.The Extractive Industries and Society Journal is calling for papers. The editors welcome original articles (<8000 words) and review articles (<12,000 words). The final deadline is April 1st 2018. 

For more information on the journal, how to direct inquiries, and how to submit your work, please visit the official site linked above.