Revenue Watch Institute hosted a book launch for Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil with author Nicholas Shaxson. Poisoned Wells (Palgrave Macmillan) looks at the root causes of the paradox of poverty from plenty, and explores the mechanisms by which oil causes grave instabilities and corruption around the globe.
Nicholas Shaxson is the only journalist who has had access to the key players in African oil, and is willing to make the connections between the drama of the developing world, leading global corporations and governments. The result is an explosive story with dangerous, glamorous characters, which reveals the unsettling connections between poor and rich nations.
Immersing the reader in the complicated and conflicting worlds of Africa’s oil barons, Poisoned Wells exposes the international threats and hidden aspects of the world in which we live, but know little about. Through these personalities and their stories, and drawing on more than a decade of experience in these countries, Shaxson shows how the oil industry has helped advance aprocess of decay, conflict, tyranny, and rising poverty.
Julie McCarthy, deputy director of the Revenue Watch Institute, introduced the event.