Macalester International Volume 24 Whither Development?: The Struggle for Article 11 Livelihood in the Time of Globalization Summer 2009 Oil, Development, and the Politics of the Bottom Billion Michael Watts University of California, Berkeley Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/macintl Recommended Citation Watts, ichM ael (2009) "Oil, Development, and the Politics of the Bottom Billion," Macalester International: Vol. 24, Article 11. Available at: http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/macintl/vol24/iss1/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Institute for Global Citizenship at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Macalester International by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Oil, Development, and the Politics of the Bottom Billion1 Michael Watts The secret of great wealth with no obvious source is some forgotten crime, forgotten because it was done neatly. Honoré de Balzac [R]egions at the epicenter of oil production are torn apart by repeated conflicts. Achille Mbembe (2001) The Economist of 4 August 2007 called it a “slip of a book” and “set to become a classic.” Paul Collier’s The Bottom Billion argues that most of the bottom billion, the world’s chronically poor, live in 58 countries (almost three quarters of which are African) distinguished by their lack of economic growth and the prevalence of civil conflict. Most are caught in a quartet