ABSTRACT
Black Panther is the hereditary leader of the African nation of Wakanda, a small, natural resource-rich country, which lacks access to the sea. Historically Wakanda’s political leadership has tried to hide its existence from other countries, which has limited its economic integration with the rest of the world. The fictional land of Wakanda has managed to achieve something many real-world countries have not: combine a rich endowment of natural resources (in this case, the rare fictional ore called vibranium) with technological development and innovation. This chapter explores the political economy of Wakanda and the background of its leader, Black Panther. After explaining the origins of Black Panther, the chapter turns to the economic puzzle of Wakanda by exploring the geographic and economic implications of isolation. This is followed by an investigation of how Wakanda has avoided the resource curse that has plagued so many other countries. That leads into a comparison between Wakanda and the real-life African nation of Botswana, including their contrasting forms of government, a discussion of the problems of economic and technological development under a dictatorship, and how a recent transition to democracy in Wakanda might affect its economic and technological development.
