top of page
Ben Radley
Political Economist
Researching energy, mining, and labour in the context of green transitions, with a regional focus on Africa and Asia-Pacific.
Books
“The analysis in this book should inspire policy makers in African countries who hope to chart a new course towards resource-based industrialization that is transformative, inclusive, and sustainable”
Léonce Ndikumana, Distinguished Professor of Economics
An edited collection of 38 interviews bringing to life older voices of liberation and lost radical histories alongside newer initiatives, projects, and activists engaged in contemporary struggles to reshape Africa. Voices include Samir Amin, Issa Shivji, Hakim Adi, and Marjorie Mbilinyi.
Writing
Energy
Greening the global economy, undermining prosperity in the Congo
Blog for ROAPE (April 2024)
Green imperialism, sovereignty, and the quest for national development in the Congo
Journal article in Review of African Political Economy (November 2023)
Expanded access to solar power in Africa can stimulate economic development – but there are risks
Blog for The Conversation (August 2022)
Off-grid solar expansion and economic development in the global South: A critical review and research agenda
Journal article in Energy Research & Social Science (July 2022)
Sustainable minerals and metals for a low-carbon future
Journal article in Science (January 2020)
Mining
Green Imperialism in the DR Congo
Blog for RS21 (June 2024)
Mining in Africa
Podcast with Africa 4 Dummies (January 2024)
Les pays africains ont perdu le contrôle au profit de sociétés minières étrangères : les trois étapes qui ont permis cela
Book excerpt for The Conversation (December 2023)
The three-stage process through which African resource sovereignty was ceded to foreign mining corporations
Book excerpt for Review of African Political Economy (November 2023)
En RD Congo, le colonialisme économique devenu pillage généralisé
Interview with France 24 (February 2023)
Technologies and transformations: Traces from a collective research project
Journal article in The Extractive Industries and Society (December 2022)
Productivity and profitability: Investigating the economic impact of gold mining mechanisation in Kamituga, DR Congo
Journal article in The Extractive Industries and Society (December 2022)
Dirty metals for clean energy
Podcast with The Red Line (November 2022)
Mining hierarchies
Podcast with Hiearchies of Development (June 2022)
Class formation and capital accumulation in the countryside: Artisanal and small-scale gold mining in South Kivu, DR Congo
Journal article in Journal of Agrarian Change (April 2022)
Small-scale gold miners in DRC challenge the view that they can’t cut it
Blog for The Conversation (February 2022)
Productivité et profitabilité : une
analyse comparative basée sur l’impact
de la mécanisation dans l’EMAPE de l’or
en RDC
Working paper for University of Antwerp (August 2021)
Mines, communities, and states: The local politics of natural resource extraction in Africa
Book review for The Journal of Development Studies (May 2021)
Struggles over value: Corporate–state suppression of locally led mining
mechanisation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Journal article in Review of African Political Economy (February 2021)
La valeur de la filière minière artisanale
Webinar hosted by Intel Congo (September 2020)
Banro au Sud-Kivu : bilan de son impact sur le plan social et économique
Blog for Intel Congo (August 2020)
Les effets socio-économiques de l’extraction de l’or
au Sud-Kivu : Le cas de Banro
Report for Maison des Mines du Kivu (July 2020)
The end of the African mining enclave? Domestic marginalization and labour fragmentation in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Journal article in Development and Change (May 2020)
Gold from DR Congo
Podcast with Back to the Source (December 2019)
The end of the African mining enclave?
Blog for the International Institute of Social Studies (September 2019)
Rethinking the failures of mining industrialisation in the African periphery
Blog for Developing Economics (May 2019)
Arrêtez les concasseurs! Transformation, quasi-dépossession et répression autour de la production d’or à Kamituga
Book chapter in Conjonctures de l’Afrique centrale, 2019 (April 2019)
Corporate suppression of artisanal mining in the Congo
Blog for Review of African Political Economy (February 2019)
Why mining execs don’t care if Congo hikes up its profit tax
Blog for African Arguments (March 2018)
The DRC is revisiting its mining code: Why reform is long overdue
Blog for The Conversation (June 2017)
Labour
Low worker wages and high inequality
Blog for Africa is a Country (June 2020)
A distributional analysis of artisanal and industrial wage levels and expenditure in the Congolese mining sector
Journal article in The Journal for Development Studies (February 2020)
Artisanal mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Labour conditions and economic trajectories
Educational piece for Norwegian Institute of Interntional Affairs (October 2019)
Challenging industry claims: Does corporate-led mining in the African periphery really provide higher wages to local workers?
Blog for Bath Centre for Development Studies (May 2019)
Gold mining in DRC, from the ore to the bar
Photo story for Deutsche Welle (April 2017)
The lived experience of human rights and labor violations in select
artisanal mining sites in North and South Kivu
Report for Arizona State University (July 2014)