Future Directions for the Management of Natural Resources

The chapters in this volume identify steps that governments of resource-rich countries can take to increase the benefi ts that their countries derive from their holdings of oil, gas, and other resources. The focus on governments is natural: these actions will work only if governments lead the way. We believe these reforms should attract the support of their populations. Moreover, in some cases, these reforms will be brought about only with concerted pressure from civil society. But the " resource curse " affl icts not just host country governments and their populations; it also affects the operations of major international corporations , their home governments, and those in consuming nations. We believe that reforms that bring an end to the resource curse are also in the interests of the oil companies and consumer states. The chapters in this book have identifi ed associations between resource extraction and civil wars, human rights abuses, corruption, poor governance, and environmental damage, sometimes at catastrophic levels. Governments of resource-rich states cannot resolve these problems alone if the relevant environment is prohibitive. Responses are therefore needed not only from host countries but also at the level of the international system. And this is in the interests of both oil companies—which suffer considerable direct and reputational costs owing to their perceived complicity with autocratic regimes, human rights abuses, and environmental havoc 1 —and their home governments—which sometimes fi nd themselves following compromised foreign policies, backing despots in order to secure advantageous access to oil and gas fi elds, pipelines, and sea routes, often with long-run damage to the reputation and true national interests of the consuming countries. These responses