ABSTRACT
Natural resources and foreign aid revenues can play a crucial role in improving the security of populations in poor countries. Many commodity prices, especially oil and minerals, as well as aid in the form of debt relief and ODA rebounded in the mid-2000s, after more than a decade of decline. If well managed, these financial flows could help improve the lives of some of the poorest and most conflict-affected populations in the world. If mismanaged, however, these revenues could once again trigger economic growth collapses, feed grievances and sustain repressive regimes or armed groups. Iraq or Africa’s Great Lakes region clearly illustrate the dramatic costs of revenue mismanagement – at the individual, regional and international levels.
