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 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...
…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…
