The extractive industries, mineral sector reform and post-conflict reconstruction in developing countries

This paper introduces a Special Section on the extractive industries, mineral sector reform and post-conflict reconstruction in developing countries. The collection of papers presented reflects on a wide range of post-conflict natural resource management scenarios across a variety of geographical settings in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Melanesia. The contributions suggest that although natural resource wealth provides the potential for post-conflict countries to stimulate reconstruction, generate employment and achieve unprecedented economic growth, it also has the ability to de-rail post-conflict peacebuilding and development. Strategies to harness the benefits of extractive industry investment for post-conflict societies will therefore not only require attention to ‘better’ resource management, but also a deeper understanding of local contextual political struggles and how they are embedded within broader causal factors.