Corruption Governance and Natural Resources Management (813M9)

15 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring teaching

This module addresses the paradox facing many countries with substantial natural resource endowments: why are they affected by severe governance challenges (ranging from poor economic and social outcomes through corruption to civil conflict)?

We shall attempt to answer that question, which inevitably leads to further questions:

• If we find that this relationship exists, why is that so?
• Why do certain states fall into the ‘natural resources trap’ whereas others – Norway and to an extent Botswana, for example – manage to avoid it?
• What types of institutional architecture can protect against falling foul of what some refer to as the 'resource curse'?

During this module, you’ll gain a clear theoretical and empirical understanding of the processes at work. You’ll critically examine whether and how resources are related to such governance problems. This module evaluates the success and (at times, frequent) failures of solutions, both national and international, to the problems outlined above.

You’ll learn:

• about the natural resources curse before analysing why it takes the forms that it does
• to critically evaluate domestic initiatives that have been undertaken to try and alleviate the corruption-related impacts caused by having large natural resource endowments
• to analyse and interpret drivers of and results that have flowed from the international community’s proposed solutions in this area.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.