Corrupt Governments in Africa

Research Proposal: How Natural Resources Exploitation and Government Instability Impact Economic Development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Theory

Natural resources exploitation and government instability negatively impact economic development in the developing world.

The Method

A qualitative, case study approach will be used to examine the relationship between resources exploitation/government instability and economic development. The case will be that of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this case, the level of resources exploitation and government instability will be measured using different indicators along with economic data on a range of indicators such as GDP growth, foreign direct investment, and employment levels in order to identify trends.

The Cases

The cases will include pre-independence Congo to establish a baseline and then examine the Mobutu era (1965-1997), the Civil War era (1996-2007), and the era of ongoing instability post-2007. The cases are representative of the population addressed by the theory in terms of each one representing a Congo under different conditions; it is like examining the health of a single patient during the various stages of sickness. The timeframe for analysis is 1877 when it was Congo Free State under King Leopold II to present. The unit-of-analysis will be the state by individual era.

The Dependent Variable

The dependent variable will be economic development measurement as represented by GDP growth, foreign direct investment, and employment levels. A summative measurement will be reported for each era using historical records and sources, such as World Bank database and historical documents such as

The Independent (and Control Variables)

The independent variables will be government instability by way of the Corruption Perceptions Index at Transparency.org and Fragile States Index Rankings, along with exploitation rankings found at ISSAfrica.org (Gatimu 2015). Control variable will be democratic government by way of the Polity IV, which measures government systems from authoritarian to democratic using a Likert scale (Marshall & Jaggers 2007).

The Research Logic

My theory is that these two factors are major impediments to economic growth in the country. My method will involve examination of these factors throughout the different Congolese eras. My cases will be drawn from different eras of life in Congo. By examining how resources exploitation and government instability impact economic development in Congo, I hope to contribute to our understanding of these important issues.

The Project Value

First, my project provides empirical evidence to support the argument that these factors can have negative consequences for economic development. Second, it examines the specific mechanisms through which these impacts occur. Finally, it highlights the potential for policy interventions to mitigate these impacts. These are its strengths.

There are also a number of limitations to my project. First, it is based on secondary data sources, which may not be representative of the entire country. Second, it focuses on specific time periods in which different cultures prevailed and may not be generalizable to other periods. Third, it does not examine all potential factors affecting economic development in Congo. Despite these limitations, my project provides valuable insights into the complex relationship between resource exploitation, government instability, and economic development, building on the research of Bakamana (2021), Zallé (2019) and Nichols (2018), contributing to their work thus far on the topic.