POLC38H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Congo Crisis, Congo Free State, Clientelism
Document Summary
Large (as large as western europe or the usa east of the. Mississippi and the 3rd largest state in africa)! 4th largest population in africa at 67 million but low population densities! Well endowed (coltan, cobalt, copper, timber, gold, diamonds, uranium, etc)! A country with a very recent violent past, beginning with a (i) struggle against mobutu s dictatorship, (ii) moving towards a protracted internal civil war - especially in the resource-rich. Eastern provinces - exacerbated by state collapse, and (iii) descending into a regionalized pillage-oriented conflict sometimes called africa s world war . Debating the causal validity of the resource curse: Resource curse: when having resources is worse for the country than not having them: similar to collier s resource trap. Initially, natural resources thought to be an unmitigated asset for development . Modernization theorists (w. w. rostow) also argued that natural resources were essential in providing the capital to promote the transformation from underdevelopment to.
