Natural Resource Curce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Natural Resource Curce - Essay Example Likewise other OPEC countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also lower GNP figures. As a whole, OPEC countries have less GNP per capita from 1965 to 1998 compared to countries that do not have sufficient resources (Ross, 297-322). The reasons behind these surprising results could be many including the wrong management of resources by the government, non competitive business environment, and inefficiency of overall economy. A brief explanation about the conflicts of the Natural Resources and the policies to reduce these conflicts will be discussed in this paper. Natural Resource Curse The phenomenon of the natural resource curse came into existence after numerous studies stated that the resource oriented countries were constantly producing insignificant GNP per capita as compared to the countries that lacked resources. It was not only the economy that was lacking but the resources dependent countries were found to be malformed with more corruption, spontaneous conflicts betw een the people and the government, higher poverty rates, and inappropriate management of the government (Gibbs, 35-40). Oil, minerals, gold, cotton and other gemstones are the natural resources that mainly cause conflicts. ... Furthermore, such wealth always results in domestic grievances which are the major cause of civil wars. This is what the phenomenon of natural resource curse is all about – the greater the natural resource wealth, the lower will be the economic growth and development. Let’s now briefly discuss the effects and causes of the Natural Resource Curse Effects of the Natural Resource Curse The countries that are facing natural resource curse are mostly associated with the following problems that results in low economic growth and development. The internal conflicts of the country The natural resource curse has been a major reason for internal conflicts of the country. It has been studied by various researchers that the region of the country that is highly resource oriented consists of certain groups that are openly asking for their share every now and then. But such conflicts are minor as compared to the conflicts that are taking place within the government ministries. The peo ple that are in power are unable to firm unity amongst each other and are more interested in having the authority over the allocations of the budget. This is where the collapse of the government takes place thereby resulting in insignificant progress. The outcomes of such conflicts could be very damaging for a nation as it can seriously affect the economic growth of the country. According to a research, the countries that have lower percentages of exports of gross national products are involved in less amount conflicts as compared to the countries with higher percentages of exports. Lack of Human rights and Resources One thing that has been a hot target of the natural resource curse is the education for people in resource