Does the possession of certain types of natural resource wealth undermine national economies and damage polities? There is now a massive literature and enormous controversy over this topic. Mick Moore will provide an overview in relation to contemporary developing countries, focusing on the political consequences of resource rents, and attempting to distinguish between what we know and what we suspect.

Mick Moore is a Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. He is Director of the Centre for the Future State. Research interests include understanding and explaining inter-national differences in governance across the globe; political and institutional aspects of economic policy and performance; the politics of anti-poverty policy; and the politics and administration of development.

His recent publications include 'Revenues, state formation and the quality of governance in developing countries', International Political Science Review Vol. 25, No. 3, 2004; 'Institutionalised co-production: unorthodox public service delivery in challenging environments' (with Anuradha Joshi), Journal of Development Studies Vol.40, No.4, 2004; Aid Proliferation: How responsible are the donors? (with Arnab Acharya and Ana Fuzzo de Lima), IDS Working Paper No.214, 2004.