Research
Book Project
Myths of Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources: African States in the EITI
My book project investigates the 1962 Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources (PSNR) principle, and its implications for global discourses of responsibility and accountability, by empirically focusing on African state membership and compliance within the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The project is motivated by the observation that although the EITI was established as a global governance structure, African states initially became the main target of the initiative, with other resource-rich states, especially from the global north, declining to be subjected to EITI regulation. My dissertation was therefore motivated by probing these unequal north-south dynamics in the EITI, and asked why some oil African states joined and complied with the EITI standard, while others did not. My findings show that beyond key technocratic, institutionalist and developmental accounts of compliance, a central motivation among African states, regardless of compliance outcomes, revolved around political claims to sovereignty. These dynamics call for a re-politicization of the PSNR principle, a key international, post-colonial declaration that has now evolved into customary international law, and yet has still not received adequate attention from resource politics scholars.
Edited Book
2015. Grant, J. Andrew, W. R. Nadège Compaoré, and Matthew I. Mitchell, eds. New Approaches to the Governance of Natural Resources: Insights from Africa. London: Palgrave
Peer Reviewed Articles
2022. Compaoré, W. R. Nadège, Stéphanie Martel and J. Andrew Grant. “Reflexive Pluralism in IR: Canadian Contributions to Worlding the Global South,” International Studies Perspectives, 23(1): 71-93.
2019. Ayodele Olagunju, Gladman Thondhlana, Jania Said Chilima, Aby Sène-Harper, W. R. Nadège Compaoré and Ehimai Ohiozebau. “Water Governance research in Africa: progress, challenges and an agenda for research action,” Water International, 44(4): 382-407.
2018. Compaoré, W. R. Nadège. “Rise of the (Other) Rest? Exploring Small State Agency and Collective Power in IR,” International Studies Review, 20 (2): 264-271.
2017. Compaoré, W. R. Nadège. “« Voici la jeune femme qui veut poser des questions »: Composer avec le genre et une positionnalité changeante durant l’enquête de terrain,” Etudes Internationales, 48(1): 105-116.
2015. Alorse, Raynold Wonder, W. R. Nadège Compaoré, and J. Andrew Grant. “Assessing the European Union’s Engagement with Transnational Policy Networks on Conflict-Prone Natural Resources,” Contemporary Politics, 21(3): 245-257.
Book Chapters
2022. Compaoré, W. R. Nadège and Tongnoma Zongo. “Mining in Burkina Faso: Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Delegitimation as Structural Displacement”, In Dave Thomas and Veldon Coburn, eds. Capitalism & Dispossession: Corporate Canada at Home and Abroad. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 217-236.
2021. Compaoré, W. R. Nadège. “ ‘This is the Young Woman Who Wants to Ask Questions’: Gender-Race-Age in Field Research”, In Caroline Leprince and Cassandra Steer, eds. Women, Peace and Security: Feminist Perspectives to International Security Studies. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Press University, 21-40.
2020. Idemudia, Uwafiokun, W. R. Nadège Compaoré and Cynthia Kwakyewah. “The Canadian Government and Corporate Social Responsibility: Implications for Sustainable Development in Africa”, In Nathan Andrews and J. Andrew Grant, eds. Corporate Social Responsibility and Canada's Role in Africa's Extractive Sectors. University of Toronto Press, 37-57.
2018. Compaoré, W. R. Nadège. “Escaping the ‘Resource Curse’ by Localizing Transparency Norms” In Katharina P. Coleman and Thomas K. Tieku, eds. African Actors in International Security: Shaping Contemporary Norms. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 137-152.
2015. Grant, J. Andrew, W. R. Nadège Compaoré, Matthew I. Mitchell and Mats Ingulstad. “‘New Approaches to the Governance of Africa’s Natural Resources.” In J. Andrew Grant, W.R. Nadège Compaoré and Matthew I. Mitchell, eds. New Approaches to the Governance of Natural Resources: Insights from Africa. London: Palgrave, 3-24.
2015. Grant, J. Andrew, W. R. Nadège Compaoré, Matthew I. Mitchell and Timothy M. Shaw. “Prospects and Trends in the Governance of Africa’s Natural Resources: Reflections on the Role of External and Internal Actors.” In J. Andrew Grant, W.R. Nadège Compaoré and Matthew I. Mitchell, eds. New Approaches to the Governance of Natural Resources: Insights from Africa. London: Palgrave, 267-284.
2019. Compaoré, W. R. Nadège. Gold Mining and the discourses of corporate social responsibility in Ghana by Nathan Andrews, Canadian Journal of International Development Studies, Vol. 40(1): 164-166.
2012. Compaoré, W. R. Nadège. The International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa by Ian Taylor, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Vol. 40: 685-686.