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> On a side note, this made me realise why there is so much conflict in some mineral rich areas in Africa. Honestly if we weren't peaceful people there could ha

> On a side note, this made me realise why there is so much conflict in some mineral rich areas in Africa. Honestly if we weren't peaceful people there could have been serious conflict. Care to elaborate?

mmsimanga 8y ago
It's my way of saying we were really mad! Mad enough to come to blows which nearly happened at our meetings or to sabotage the whole mining operation. Have a look at this story[1] about a community in diamond rich land in South Africa who are still bitterly divided to this day. [1]https://mg.co.za/article/2014-01-30-bitter-fight-for-diamonds-divides-the-impoverished-richtersveld https://mg.co.za/article/2014-01-30-bitter-fight-for-diamond...
- ethbro 8y ago
  It turns out, there's a name for this (which I learned in a HN comment): resource curse. One theory being that, essentially, legal controls and enforcement are expanded with economic activity. But a sudden surge in resources (e.g. discovery or exploitation) exceeds the existing system's ability to control corruption, and it's very hard to steer a cash-rich system back to good governance after this happens. https://theconversation.com/citrus-fruits-scurvy-and-the-origins-of-the-sicilian-mafia-89986 https://theconversation.com/citrus-fruits-scurvy-and-the-ori... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse
  - maayank 8y ago
    The story of Argentina: https://www.economist.com/briefing/2014/02/17/a-century-of-decline https://www.economist.com/briefing/2014/02/17/a-century-of-d...
  - jeffreyrogers 8y ago
    You're right that rent seeking and corruption is a big part of the resource curse but another aspect of it is that having a large amount of natural resources makes your other exports less competitive (because all the skilled people go work in the mining/oil/whatever industry) and so it's hard to develop the educational and other institutions that a successful society has. That's why developed countries (e.g. Norway, Canada, USA) don't suffer from the resource curse. They have other options than exports for economic growth (in addition to better functioning governments). There is an argument against aid to developing countries for similar reasons.

mmsimanga 8y ago

It's my way of saying we were really mad! Mad enough to come to blows which nearly happened at our meetings or to sabotage the whole mining operation. Have a look at this story[1] about a community in diamond rich land in South Africa who are still bitterly divided to this day. [1]https://mg.co.za/article/2014-01-30-bitter-fight-for-diamonds-divides-the-impoverished-richtersveld https://mg.co.za/article/2014-01-30-bitter-fight-for-diamond...

ethbro 8y ago
It turns out, there's a name for this (which I learned in a HN comment): resource curse. One theory being that, essentially, legal controls and enforcement are expanded with economic activity. But a sudden surge in resources (e.g. discovery or exploitation) exceeds the existing system's ability to control corruption, and it's very hard to steer a cash-rich system back to good governance after this happens. https://theconversation.com/citrus-fruits-scurvy-and-the-origins-of-the-sicilian-mafia-89986 https://theconversation.com/citrus-fruits-scurvy-and-the-ori... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse
- maayank 8y ago
  The story of Argentina: https://www.economist.com/briefing/2014/02/17/a-century-of-decline https://www.economist.com/briefing/2014/02/17/a-century-of-d...
- jeffreyrogers 8y ago
  You're right that rent seeking and corruption is a big part of the resource curse but another aspect of it is that having a large amount of natural resources makes your other exports less competitive (because all the skilled people go work in the mining/oil/whatever industry) and so it's hard to develop the educational and other institutions that a successful society has. That's why developed countries (e.g. Norway, Canada, USA) don't suffer from the resource curse. They have other options than exports for economic growth (in addition to better functioning governments). There is an argument against aid to developing countries for similar reasons.