OXFORD MARTIN PROGRAMME ON AFRICAN GOVERNANCE

This programme looks at the current realities of economic, social, and political governance challenges for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly in terms of decision-making and implementation.

ABOUT THE AFRICAN GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME

The economic, social and political governance challenges for sub-Saharan Africa remain immense. Despite progress in some health and education indicators, Africa needs more inclusive growth, jobs for its fast-growing population, and better social services and infrastructure. Their work is organized around three themes.

First, the programme will look in-depth at Ethiopia's attempts at industrialisation and contrast it with experiences in other countries. Second, the programme will study the changing political economy of infrastructure and service delivery: how changing and at times maturing politics affect their impact, as in Ghana and Kenya and a number of other contrasting cases. Finally, researchers will study the current political and economic responses to the post-2014 reality for resource-rich economies, such as Angola and Nigeria, and what this will mean for the quest for economic diversification and the lessening of resource dependence in these economies.

The programme brings together researchers from six departments and several disciplines across the University of Oxford. The programme is led by Professor Stefan Dercon from the CSAE at the Department of Economics and the Blavatnik School of Government; and Professor Ricardo Soares de Oliveira at the Department of Politics and International Relations.

Website
https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/african-governance/

Follow
@Oxford_CSAE
@oxmartinschool

PROJECTS

Graffiti on a wall on Obi Wale Street in Port Harcourt

The Arts of Oil: A Cultural History of Port Harcourt

Is there a popular culture of oil? How is oil - its production, pollution, profit and politics - inflected in Nigerian popular arts? Can we understand how the oil industry is perceived through the popular arts that represent and resist it? This research examines what the popular arts tell us about understandings of African petro-states, resource curse, and post-oil futures in the urban hub of the Niger Delta.

Find out more - Niger Delta project

Nigerian Rail Heritage: Past, Present, Future

This project was an effort to engage with the history of Nigeria's Railways through the perspective of a conversation between past, present and future. It linked the documentation and conservation of Nigeria's railway heritage infrastructure with how it is used, experienced and imagined today, and how that interacts with contemporary conversations on railway development.

Find out more - Nigeria Railway project

The Productivity and Allocation of Public Personnel and Funds: Evidence from Government Health Facilities in Ghana

Frontline public services are delivered by government officials working in facilities spread across the country. Therefore, governments must decide how to allocate these scarce human resources and complement them with financial inputs. This project builds on an ongoing collaboration between the researchers and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to estimate the returns to personnel and finance inputs in public service delivery.

Find out more - Ghana project

Cash Transfers and Community Participation in Public Affairs: A Village-Level Randomized Controlled Trial in Kenya

How does a short-term spike in income affect community engagement? Do cash-villages become more or less active in tackling community matters? This study investigates the effects of delivering a large, one-off cash transfer (from an NGO) to the poorest 40% of households in 1,030 villages in Western Kenya on civic engagement and community behaviour.

Find out more - Kenya project

The Politics of (Re)Distribution: Austerity Measures, Decision-Making and Elite Re-Negotiation in post-2014 Nigeria

This research project explores how the management of an oil-dependent economy combines with and/or morphs into the management of ethno-regional and religious differences and the implications of this for confronting the era of economic decline and renewed indebtedness. How is economic decision-making determined by the ‘vernacular' of politics and Nigeria's ethno-regional dynamics?

The Political Economy of Africa's new links with Asian International Financial Centres

The engagement between African states and Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong remains understudied despite signs of their growing significance to Africa's external financial relations. This research aims to fill a gap in the global scholarly understanding of financial linkages between Africa and these international financial centres.

Find out more - Financial centres project

Political Economy of Provisioning Services for a Predominantly Female Workforce in Hawassa

This project explores women's experiences of employment in Hawassa and implications for empowerment, including gendered outcomes of development pathways.

Find out more - Female Workforce project

Aerial shot of the special economic zone in the Angola study

The Politics and Economics of Industrialisation as a Route to Job Creation

This project examines the politics and economics of industrialisation as a route to job creation in Angola and Ethiopia.

PUBLICATIONS AND MORE

An Offshore Turn to Asia? Africa's Deepening Links with Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong

Oxford Martin School Working Paper

January 2026

Ricardo Soares de Oliveira

‘Come meet us in Dubai’: the new offshoring of grand corruption

Oxford Martin School article

July 2025

Ricardo Soares de Oliveira and John Heathershaw

Graphic of african continent with gold border with the even title over the top

Time to Reset Event

'Time to Reset: Ending the Self-Deception in Africa-Europe Relations' with Prof Carlos Lopes

12 June 2025, 5 - 6:15 pm BST

Hybrid event, Oxford Martin School and online

The billionaire tax: a (modest) proposal for the 21st century event

This lecture by Gabriel Zucman detailed a proposal for a coordinated minimum tax ensuring that dollar billionaires pay at least 2% of their wealth in taxes each year. Includes comments by Stefan Dercon.

06 March 2025

Oxford Martin School and Online

Screenshot of recording from the event 'Fighting misinformation on social media: the role of economic research'

Fighting misinformation on social media: the role of economic research event

In this talk, Sergei Guriev, Dean of the London Business School & leading Russian dissident, discusses the recent research on the economics of fighting disinformation and fake news on social media.

22 November 2024

Oxford Martin School and Online

The UK’s development strategy and the new economic and geopolitical challenges event

The UK's development strategy and the new economic and geopolitical challenges' with Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, Minister for Development and Africa

06 March 2024, 5-6:30pm

Oxford Martin School, Oxford, and online

Photo of Kate Orkin accepting prize at podium

Kate Orkin wins ESRC Impact Prize 2023

Kate Orkin has won the ESRC award for Outstanding Public Policy Impact, for her role advising the South African government during COVID-19 and beyond. She influenced £4.87 billion in spending that helped 28.5 million people and saved 5.5 million from extreme poverty.

esrc 290923 closeupclappinghands gettyimages 926573608

Kate Orkin and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira nominated for ESRC Impact Prize

Kate Orkin's work on cash transfers and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira's work on kleptocracy have been nominated for the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2023.

October 2023

journal of international relations and development cover image

Enabling African Loots

Enabling African Loots: Tracking the laundering of Nigerian kleptocrats's ill-gotten gains in western financial centres

Journal of International Relations and Development

August 2023

Ricardo Soares de Oliveira and Prelec Tena

men stand on platform waving flags in Nigeria

Democracy and Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: Governance, Political Economy and Party Politics 1999-2023

Book, published by James Currey/Boydell & Brewer, 2023

Edited by Wale Adebanwi

person lies on bed in dark room - poster for exhibition

Unmasked Spirit in the City

An exhibition by Port Harcourt-born British-Nigerian artist Zina Saro-Wiwa and Oxford anthropologist David Pratten at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, UK.

28 January 2023 - 07 January 2024

aea rct registry screenshot for cash transfers project

Cash Transfers and Community Participation in Public Affairs

Cash Transfers and Community Participation in Public Affairs: A Village-Level Randomized Controlled Trial in Kenya

AEA RCT Registry. December 2022

Kate Orkin and Michael Walker

screenshot of YouTube video featuring Nick Westcott

The state of the African state: Where has it come from and where is it going?

'The state of the African state: Where has it come from and where is it going?' with Dr Nick Westcott

Oxford Martin School event

November 2022

The Logic of Authoritarian Industrial Policy: The Case of Angola’s Special Economic Zone

African Affairs

October 2022

Nicolas Lippolis

Researching Africa and the Offshore World

The Journal of Modern African Studies

September 2022

Ricardo Soares de Oliveira

Large crowd at an election event in Angola as background to tite

Mounting Economic Challenges Threaten the Basis of MPLA Rule in Angola

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

August 2022

Nicolas Lippolis

African continent projected on to open hands cupped together

African Governance: Economic, Social and Political Governance Challenges

Event series at Oxford Martin School

May and June 2022

democracy and autocracy cover page screenshot

Authoritarian Power in the Global Economy

American Political Science Association Democracy and Autocracy Newsletter

March 2022

Ricardo Soares de Oliveira (Special issue co-editor)

Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose

Book published by Hurst Publishers, 2022

Stefan Dercon

The UK’s Kleptocracy Problem

Chatham House Research Paper.

December 2021

Soares de Oliveira, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, John Heathershaw, Alexander Cooley, Thomas Mayne, Casey Michel, Tena Prelec, Jason Sharman.

Kingsley Moghalu speaking at the Nigeria event

The Political Economy of Nigeria Event

"The Political Economy of Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities for Reform" with Prof Kingsley Moghalu

Oxford Martin School, Oxford

24 November 2021

Nigeria's Rail Heritage: Digital Documentation Partnership launch

Nigeria's Rail Heritage: Digital Documentation Partnership Online Launch
01 November 2021, 2pm
Online event, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Legacy 1995 and University of Oxford

Screenshot of water security report webpage

Water Security for Climate Resilience Report

This report presents a synthesis of published and ongoing research by REACH which explores the relationship between water security, climate and climate adaptation decisions, drawing on findings from REACH research conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Perpetual Motion:Human Mobility and Spatial Frictions in 3 African Countries

Perpetual Motion: Human Mobility and Spatial Frictions in Three African Countries

CEPR Discussion Paper

October 2021

Paul Blanchard, Douglas Gollin, Martina Kirchberger

Water Security for Climate Resilience Event

Water Security for Climate Resilience: How Research Can Support Action
26 October 2021, 5 - 6:30pm
Hybrid event, Oxford Martin School, Oxford and via Crowdcast