Analyzing the Natural Resource Curse

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The natural resource curse is known as the paradox of wealth in natural resources combined with crushing poverty with two major contributing factors being bad government and multi-national corporations There are many countries that suffer severely because of the wealth in their natural resources, such as Cote D'Ivoire. However, there are also countries such as Botswana that have avoided the "curse" and turned the resources into prosperity for their country.

In 1999, Cote D'Ivoire was renowned for its political and economic stability. That same year though, they experienced their first ever military coup, which led up to a civil war in 2002. Economic disparity, ethnicity, and religion all contributed to the escalating tensions in the country. Much of the violence stemmed from religious tensions creating two opposing sides in Cote D'Ivoire, the Muslim rebels in the North and the Christian government in the South. It has gotten to the point where both sides are fighting over control of the natural resources to exploit and both have taken on child soldiers to fight. The natural resources is what is funding the military for both the North and South. If a peace agreement were made in Cote D'Ivoire, to prevent these measures, there would have to be a stable government in place, first and foremost. The second thing that would be smart for Cote D'Ivoire is to model after Botswana and their use of natural resources. Instead of using the revenue from natural resources to fund military conflicts, they should invest it back into the people such as education and health care to help the people out.

The government of Botswana has worked with the diamond industry to assure that the country benefits from diamond revenue by first, equally owning the Debswana Diamond Company with De Beers Diamond. This assure that the revenue can go back to the people. The second thing that the Botswanan government has done was handling all aspects of the diamond trade, including the mining, cutting, polishing, and manufacturing. This provides jobs for the citizens as well as cutting out a middle man within the trading.

One way that the international community could help stop the effects of the natural resource curse in Cote D'Ivoire and other developing countries is to stop importing or buying the products that there is conflict over. That is where money comes in to only fund the war. So without buyers of the product, there is no income for the war.

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