"Beyond the Resource Curse" book presented -PHOTOS

Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA) Book Center hosted a presentation of a newly released book "Beyond The Resource Curse" edited by Brenda Shaffer and Taleh Ziyadov. The book was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press (UPENN) in the United States

ADA rector Amb. Hafiz Pashayev opened the event and noted the importance of this publication for the academic community. "This book is an outcome of a two-year long meticulous work that resulted in a high quality academic publication. I'm delighted that four Azerbaijani scholars, including ADA professors, have contributed to this valuable book." The event continued with presentations of Dr. Brenda Shaffer and Mr. Taleh Ziyadov, and contributions from ADA professors Dr. Elnur Soltanov and Dr. Elkin Nurmammadov.

"Azerbaijan is a unique resource exporting state. It was a highly modern society before energy export (high education levels, integration of women and minorities into labor market, and separation of religion and state), which gives Azerbaijan some capability to circumvent the resource curse", noted Dr. Shaffer. She stressed, "Energy export is difficult to leverage into foreign policy gains. Often energy exporters are dependent on the markets as much or more than the markets dependent on oil and gas".

"The extent to which resource-rich states succeed or fail is not due to the mere existence of abundant resources, but it is dependent among other things, on how the governments manage these resources. Therefore, it is important to understand the common challenges faced by most resource-rich states in order to effectively deal with these problems", Taleh Ziyadov said.

Beyond the Resource Curse focuses on the relationship between natural wealth and economic security, discussing the particular pitfalls and consistent perils facing oil- and gas-exporting states. It looks beyond the standard fields of research related to the resource curse and sheds new light on the specific developmental problems of resource-rich states around the globe, including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cambodia, East Timor, Iran, Norway, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

Dr. Brenda Shaffer is Senior Lecturer in the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa and Visiting Professor at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA). Taleh Ziyadov is Research Fellow at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at ADA Book Center.


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