A generous endowment of natural resources such as oil, diamonds, or timber should, in theory, favour a country's rapid economic and social development. And yet from the oil fields of the Persian Gulf to the diamond mines of West Africa, millions of people in resource-rich countries have seentheir lives devastated. The experience of many resource-rich developing countries points to a paradox: compared to less well-endowed countries, they have been on average poorer, less competently governed, and more frequently affected by war. In the most dramatic cases, resources have sustainedauthoritarian and corrupt regimes resulting in armed conflicts.Since the end of the Cold War, natural resources have provided the bulk of the revenues financing wars in developing countries. For many armed groups, accessing resource revenues has become an end in itself, with violence and the context of war providing the means to achieve it. Access tointernational markets has allowed countless armed groups to prosper from legally traded resources, and military interventions in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been tainted by the plunder of valuable resources.This book examines the `resource curse` affecting many resource-rich countries, and identifies the ways in which natural resources influence the course of conflicts. It reflects on the role of businesses in sustaining repressive governance and war criminals, and analyses recent initiatives seekingto end resource-fuelled wars. The book recommends that a global resource-governance framework be implemented to improve accountability for governments and businesses in these economic sectors. It also recommends economic reforms to provide greater security for populations in resource-dependentcountries.

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Philippe Le Billon is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia. A former Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Overseas Development Institute, he also worked with theFrench Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the World Institute for Development Economics Research, and the International Development Research Centre.