CONCLUSION
The political resource curse is not inevitable. Yet, Somaliland is at significant risk of encountering adverse resource curse effects and it is vulnerable to those effects even before commercially significant quantities of oil are produced. Oil to cash cannot be a one size fits all policy. Somaliland does, however, already possess many of the prerequisites needed for such a program including biometric identification and mobile or electronic payment infrastructure. Beyond that, oil to cash is well suited to the ‘multiple and complex specifics’ of Somaliland, including its status as an unrecognized de facto state. The potential direct and indirect benefits of an oil to cash program in Somaliland are of a disproportionately greater magnitude than the limited attention the idea has so far received both in Somaliland’s democratic political debate and in the academic literature on oil in Somalia. This article outlined one version of what an oil to cash program in Somaliland might look like. There are countless different permutations possible. It is high time for the debate on oil to cash in Somaliland to commence.
Footnotes
I would like to thank the editors and, especially, two anonymous reviewers for their many helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. Thanks also to the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI for sabbatical funding and to everyone who discussed these ideas with me in Somaliland, only some of whom are cited here.
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About Scott Pegg
Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).
Scott Pegg came to IUPUI in 2001 from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. He primarily teaches courses on International Relations, War and Conflict, US Foreign Policy, and Globalization. He is the author of International Society and the De Facto State (Ashgate, 1998) and the co-editor of Transnational Corporations and Human Rights (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). Scott has published many journal articles and he is also the author of the non-governmental organization report Poverty Reduction or Poverty Exacerbation? World Bank Group Funding for Extractive Industries in Africa. Scott’s current research interests focus on the human rights and security implications of transnational corporations. He is also working on the dynamics of conflicts involving lucrative natural resources.
Beyond research and teaching, Scott is Chairman of the International Friends Committee of Bebor Nursery/Primary School in Bodo City, Ogoni, Nigeria, where he is actively raising money to build nursery and primary schools in two rural villages in southeastern Nigeria. Scott is also an advisor for the IUPUI Student Global AIDS Campaign. He is married to Tijen Demirel Pegg, from Turkey.
Education
- PhD University of British Columbia 1997
- MSc London School of Economics 1991
- BA University of Richmond 1987
Academic interests
De Facto States, Transnational Corporations and Human Rights, Natural Resource Wealth Management
Teaching
INTL I100 Introduction to International Studies, INTL I400 International Studies Capstone Seminar, POLS Y219 Introduction to International Relations, POLS Y360 US Foreign Policy, POLS Y375 War and International Conflict, POLS Y377 Globalization, POLS Y490 African Politics, POLS Y490 International Relations Theory
Awards
2017 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Civic Engagement (Faculty)
Departments/programs:
Type: Research Article
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies, Volume 56, Issue 4, December 2018, pp. 619 – 643
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X18000575[Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018
