Oil and Politics in the Gulf of Guinea Ricardo Soares de Oliviera The Gulf of Guinea, on Africa's Atlantic coast, supplies fifteen per cent of America's oil and has recently experienced an immense inflow of investment. But why are American, European, and Asian oil companies enthusiastically committing tens of billions of dollars of long-term investment to the Gulf of Guinea's failing states, which are characterized by ruthless elites, recurrent warfare, and some of the world's most detrimental development practices? The answer is the Gulf's large petroleum reserves, which allow the elites of Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Nigeria to reap the benefits of international investment and expertise regardless of their reckless conduct. While the population of these countries suffer and starve, the macabre partnership between importers, producers, and oil companies remains immune to the political tragedy. Corrupt regimes can essentially behave how they want, joining with groups that guarantee protection and dominance, and the edifice of the state, while largely moribund, is sustained in order to keep oil flowing to investors. Based on his extensive experience Ricardo Soares de Oliveira analyzes the political economy of oil in this strategically vital region and writes a conceptually sophisticated and empirically rich account of the Gulf's "successful failed states." His study on the largest inflow of investment into Africa in recent history provides insight into the flawed relationship between these third world regimes and their people, who continue to be robbed of a great economic benefit. Ricardo Soares de Oliveira is Austin Robinson Research Fellow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and associate of the Centre of International Studies, Cambridge University. He is also a fellow of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin.