Is the “resource curse” inevitable? The Resource Conflict Monitor (RCM) produced by the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) attempts to monitor the management, administration, and governance of natural resources in countries prone to resource-conflict dynamics by establishing an empirical measure of resource governance.

The online index combines available secondary data for established measures of good governance, resource management, and revenue transparency. The RCM’s free web application provides the user the ability to visualize and track the interplay between “resource governance, conflict intensity, and resource regimes compliance” for more than 90 developing countries.

BICC hopes that the Resource Governance Index will inform future policy options by identifying why certain countries are able to marshal national assets through effective resource governance, while others remain mired in conflict.

Photo Credit: Self-Defense group member with his rifle, Courtesy Flickr Member Pierre Holtz for UNICEF.