Itago Winnie Social Science

Divergent Policies, Divergent Trajectories? The Impact of Established Political Systems on Oil and Gas Institutions in Ghana and Uganda

Historically, oil exploration in Africa has brought the resource curse: countries with more abundant natural resources have poorer development outcomes, due to corruption and environmental degradation. Itago will compare new oil producers Ghana and Ugandawhich share many similarities despite Ugandas semi-authoritiarianism and Ghanas greater democracy and transparency to understand this phenomenon. To evaluate the effect of petro-policies and public participation on environmental and socio-economic outcomes in the two nations, Itago will gather data on government policies, revenue collection, and allocations in the Ghanaian and Ugandan capitals, followed by interviews with oil-watch NGOs, youth, farmers, fishermen and other community members in the nations oil-producing regions. She hopes her research will shed light on the impact of petro-policies and public participation in developing economies.

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Major: Environmental Economics & Policy major, Global Poverty & Practice minor
Mentor: Mentor: Michael Watts, Geography and Robin Marsh, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues
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