State capture in the militarized fight against illegal small-scale goldmining

This slim book addresses one of the most vexed questions about governance and politics in natural resources-rich, albeit poor, countries across the world. Why have most states in natural resources-rich developing countries failed to regulate their artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) industries? This failure is both intellectually and politically puzzling, because these same states demonstrate capability in different functions and regulation of other sectors of the economy. Ghana is a quintessential example of this puzzle. Despite its legendary reputation as a relatively well-governed, peaceful, and democratic country, its ASM sector is characterized predominantly by informality, criminality, and horrendous environmental and human-development effects, which include the ferocious denuding of the country’s vegetation cover, toxic pollution of water bodies, and serious health and safety hazards inflicted on the rural populace in mining areas. This book argues that the criminal, chaotic, and ruinous Ghanaian ASM sector – the galamsey menace – is caused by state capture. The Ghanaian state has been captured by the mining power-elites, something that allows them to undertake criminal and destructive mining with impunity. Dr Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno is Associate Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, University for Development Studies (UDS), Ghana. He is the author of the book, Neoliberal Globalization and Resistance from Below: Why the Subalterns Resist in Bolivia and not in Ghana (2019), Routledge; and the co-editor of Truth Commissions and State Building (2023), McGill-Queen’s University Press. Dr Maxwell Akansina Aziabah is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Community Development, Faculty of Planning and Land Management, SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Ghana. He is the author of the book, The Politics of Educational Reform in Ghana: Understanding Structural Persistence in the Secondary School System, Critical Studies of Education Series (Vol. 7, 2018), Cham-Switzerland: Springer AG.