The Consolidated Diamond Mines And The Natives In Colonial Namibia A Critical Analysis Of The Role Of Illegal Diamonds In The Development Of Owamboland (1908 - 1990)

Abstract

Whilst the ‘natural resource curse’ theory has been an enduring theory in the study of the relationship between natural resources endowment and economic development, the economics approach to this theory, which privileges the economic explanation focusing on the Dutch disease and revenue volatility, has been dominant. The political economy approach has proven to be more useful not only in political science but also in the study of the African political economy and developing countries such as Namibia where the political conditions played an influential role than the Dutch disease and revenue volatility. At the theoretical level, this study aligns and pursued the political economy approach to the ‘natural resource curse’ research and provides further explanations from a decolonial perspective. The decolonial explanations are useful for it is evident that the ‘natural resource curse’, as is the case with other Eurocentric theories, does not dwell on the agency and subjectivity of the natives, in this case those involved in the illegal diamond trade. Because of the political conditions in colonial Namibia, the political economy explanations such as rent-seeking, agency and moral cosmopolitanism are insufficient in explaining the relationship between the natives and CDM in colonial Namibia in general and the role of illegal diamonds in the development of Owamboland in particular. As such, decolonial insights such as alternative epistemology, indigenous resurgence and alternative conceptualization of development are used to provide understanding of the political economy of illegal diamonds in Owamboland.