TRANSPARENCY AND THE RESOURCE CURSE IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY Changes since oil discovery

Abstract

When a country has high levels of natural resources, they risk falling prey to the resource curse. Studies show a correlation between high levels of natural resources and corruption as well as lower quality institutions and less democracy. Transparency is a key precondition for accountability and mitigating corruption. This study examines if transparency levels in Ghana, a young democracy with recent oil discoveries, have changed since extraction started and if institutions have adapted. It does this through expert interviews and text analyses of Environmental Initiative Transparency Index annual country reports on Ghana. The analysis shows that Ghana increased the transparency in several areas of the oil sector, and that its institutions and laws adapted to the newfound resources to ensure transparency. This study develops the theory regarding the resource curse and the “in-between” cases, where it shows that a young democracy like Ghana can resist that transparency deteriorates. It has policy implications since it shows that natural resources do not necessarily have to be the end of a democratization process. Future studies should continue to examine and isolate the different mechanisms behind the resource curse and how it affects corruption and transparency.