State and Natural Resource Exploitation: A Comparative Analysis of Nigeria and Botswan

This thesis compares the role of the ruling elite in national-resource exploitation and revenue distribution in Nigeria and Botswana. It explores the ways indigenous hierarchical (political) structures of the ruling elite impact policy creation and delivery of services to their respective citizenry, and how that impact leads to very different policy developments and institutional behaviors regarding natural resources and revenue distribution in services to constituents. Countries with sound representative governmental institutions that hold governments accountable tend to fare better in redistribution of state income to the betterment of society than those with governmental administrations that are not accountable.