ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the politics of oil in sub-Saharan Africa, arguing that regime concerns maintaining control over oil rents undermine government accountability and increase authoritarian tendencies, while access to oil rents increases regime stability at the same time as it attenuates the link between rulers and citizens. After briefly reviewing oil exploration and production in Africa since the 1950s, the chapter reviews the main influence that oil has had in the politics of the largest of the oil exporters. It also reviews the economic impacts of oil and shows how the politics of oil affect state-society relations and, in some cases, the incidence and nature of conflict. In order to trace the enduring influence of oil on politics, the chapter primarily considers countries in sub-Saharan Africa that have been exporting oil steadily for at least the past two decades. It focuses primarily on Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria and Sudan, although other countries will be discussed as well.
