ABSTRACT
The tendency of resource-rich economies to perform poorly economically, suffer from bad governance and corruption, experience decline in their manufacturing and agriculture sectors as well as a potential upsurge of violent conflicts has been extensively discussed in the resource curse literature. However, the environmental crises associated with natural resource extraction are conspicuously missing – hence our characterization of ecological considerations as the “lost child” of the resource curse literature. This chapter draws on globalized assemblage thinking to interrogate resource-driven environmental degradation (i.e. the “environmental curse”) in Ghana. Drawing on network perspective, we argue that the impact of oil on the environment is conditioned and shaped by a globalized assemblage entailing interactions between and among states, national, local, and transnational actors. Bad policies and the (in)actions of government agencies, oil companies, and local actors result in damage to the environment. Unresolved environmental challenges compromise the livelihoods of communities or persons traditionally dependent upon natural resources. We consider these elements to be early signs of a potential environmental curse in Ghana, a phenomenon poorly understood in mainstream resource curse scholarship.
