Suspicion and disapproval have long attended the pursuit of profit in post-conflict societies. The economic incentives surrounding natural resources, in particular, are often seen as prolonging wars, obstructing peacemaking and holding back social progress. Yet now, driven principally by the growing desire of post-conflict governments to complement aid with trade and the increasing availability of long-term investment, a new path to development and peace is opening up.
Making natural-resource endowments work effectively for development requires, as a first condition, an investment climate characterised by transparency and accountability. However, as a number of states in West Africa and elsewhere have discovered, this is not enough. Without large-scale, long-term commitments – what we have termed “macro-finance” – there will be little tangible benefit from improving governance within a timeframe that is politically relevant. This is where a wave of state-backed investment in natural resources presents new options for leaders in the developing world.
The principal western charge against such investments, particularly those from China – that they are pursued as a matter of commercial, as opposed to charitable, interest – is both accurate and entirely unobjectionable to many African governments. Indeed, the caricature of Asian investors in Africa rests on one significant misperception, as well as a broader underlying myth.