3 ms·

Norway seems to have done fine

• chongli 8y ago
  Norway did well because its resources didn't exist, from a technological standpoint, for most of human history. The country was already highly developed and functioning as a cohesive culture for millennia before the North Sea oil had begun to be commercially exploited. This foundation allowed the population to assert some political influence in the development of the resource. Africa, on the other hand, is a very different story. Tropical diseases, terrain, and other features of the continent have made it difficult to form stable, cohesive nations. Now you throw in the discovery of resources and only an elite have the power to exploit them.