Matthew Grace - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien / Vienna University of Economcis and Business
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Papers by Matthew Grace
University of Oxford Master's Thesis, 2018
For all incarnations of the resource curse hypothesis, Botswana presents an outlier. With both hi... more For all incarnations of the resource curse hypothesis, Botswana presents an outlier. With both history and geography seeming to conspire against developmental success, Botswana is a remarkable case for any development scholar. However, my focus on the country is motivated by its counterfactual role in the compelling hypothesis that institutional quality is decisive for avoiding the resource curse. At the critical juncture of resource extraction, Botswanan institutional quality was not sufficient to avoid the resource curse. This leaves us with a puzzling question: what enabled Botswana to develop in spite of its institutional quality and resource dependence? In addressing this, I trace the evolution of the country’s institutions and political economy, emphasising the decisive role that agency played at critical moments. I argue that Botswana’s resource blessing is not reducible to institutional explanations but is rather due to a confluence of structural and agential factors. In doing so, I enrich existing theory by bringing history and agency back into the fold; challenging the ahistoricity and determinism common to many institutional explanations of the resource curse.
University of Oxford Master's Thesis, 2018
For all incarnations of the resource curse hypothesis, Botswana presents an outlier. With both hi... more For all incarnations of the resource curse hypothesis, Botswana presents an outlier. With both history and geography seeming to conspire against developmental success, Botswana is a remarkable case for any development scholar. However, my focus on the country is motivated by its counterfactual role in the compelling hypothesis that institutional quality is decisive for avoiding the resource curse. At the critical juncture of resource extraction, Botswanan institutional quality was not sufficient to avoid the resource curse. This leaves us with a puzzling question: what enabled Botswana to develop in spite of its institutional quality and resource dependence? In addressing this, I trace the evolution of the country’s institutions and political economy, emphasising the decisive role that agency played at critical moments. I argue that Botswana’s resource blessing is not reducible to institutional explanations but is rather due to a confluence of structural and agential factors. In doing so, I enrich existing theory by bringing history and agency back into the fold; challenging the ahistoricity and determinism common to many institutional explanations of the resource curse.