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Ben Radley

Associate Professor in International Development

Researching the political economy of global mining and energy value chains in the context of green transitions, with a regional focus on Central Africa and the Pacific Islands.

Books
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“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

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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

Academic

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Africa walking while Asia runs: Cobalt nationalism and structural transformation in Indonesia and the DRC (Book chapter)

Handbook of Resource Nationalism, 2026

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Mining governance and green energy transitions: Developmental implications for the global South

With Roy Maconachie, Aidan Barlow and Yixian Sun

Extractive Industries and Society, 2026

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Working conditions in Papua New Guinea's energy sector (Policy brief)

With Flora Carruthers and Chonginan Moang

Institute of National Affairs, 2026

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Deconstructing and reconstructing African development studies through student engagement at a UK university

With Cynthia Kamwengo

University of Bath Working Paper, 2025

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Africa and permanent, global wars (Editorial)

With Elisa Greco

Review of African Political Economy, 2025

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Breaking the North-South divide? Reflections on the 2024 Program of Action on the Construction of a New International Economic Order

Review of African Political Economy, 2025

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Christoph Vogel, Conflict Minerals Inc.: War, profit and white savourism in eastern Congo (Book review)

African Affairs, 2024

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Green imperialism, sovereignty, and the quest for national development in the Congo

Review of African Political Economy, 2023

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Common challenges for all? A critical engagement with the emerging vision for post-pandemic Development Studies

With Jörg Wiegratz et al.

Development and Change, 2023

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Class formation and capital accumulation in the countryside: Artisanal and small-scale gold mining in South Kivu, DR Congo

Journal of Agrarian Change, 2022

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Off-grid solar expansion and economic development in the global South: A critical review and research agenda

With Patrick Lehmann-Grube

Energy Research and Social Science, 2022

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Technologies and transformations: Traces from a collective research project

With Sara Geenen and Bossissi Nkuba

Extractive Industries and Society, 2022

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Productivity and profitability: Investigating the economic impact of gold mining mechanisation in Kamituga, DR Congo

With Divin-Luc Bikubanya

Extractive Industries and Society, 2022

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Jessica Steinberg, Mines, communities and states: The local politics of natural resource extraction in Africa (Book review)

Journal of Development Studies, 2021

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A distributional analysis of artisanal and industrial wage levels and expenditure in the Congolese mining sector

Journal of Development Studies, 2020

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Sustainable minerals and metals for a low-carbon future

With Benjamin Sovacool et al.

Science, 2020

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The end of the African mining enclave? Domestic marginalisation and labour fragmentation in the DR Congo

Development and Change, 2020

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Mining industrialisation in the African periphery: Disruption and dependency in South Kivu, DRC

PhD Thesis, 2019

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Kristof Bilsen, Elephant's Dream (Film review)

African Studies Review, 2017

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Rethinking democracy (Editorial)

With Wendy Harcourt et al.

Development, 2016

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The limits of corporate social responsibility in the DRC (Book chapter)

L'Afrique des Grands Lacs Annuaire, 2016

Blogs &
Op-eds (selected)

Article in Post Courrier, with Flora Carruthers and Chonginan Moang

June 2026

Blog for UK Developmnent Studies Association

June 2025

Blog for New Left Review

May 2025

Blog for EADI, with Jörg Wiegratz and others

September  2023

Letter to The Financial Times, with Sara Stevano and others

September 2023

Book review for African Arguments, of Siddharth Kara's Cobalt Red

March  2023

Blog for The Conversation, with Rachel Niehuus and others

February 2022

Book review for Africa is a Country, of Leo Zeilig’s The World Turned Upside Down

October 2021

Blog for Africa is a Country

June 2020

Webinar guest for University of Oxford and LSE, with Xiaolan Fu

May 2020

Blog for Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath

April 2020

Educational piece for Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

October 2019

Blog for International Institute of Social Studies

September 2019

Photo story for Deutsche Welle

April 2017

Op-ed for Jeune Afrique, with Philippe Alexandre Sondji

March 2017

Op-ed for the The Guardian, with Georgia Cole and Jean-Benoit Falisse

July 2015

Op-ed for Al Jazeera, with Christoph Vogel

September 2014

Blog for The Washington Post, with Christoph Vogel

September 2014

Blog for Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa

September 2013

Podcasts & Webinars (selected)

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Congo and energy transitions

The Energy Revolution

December 2025

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Mining the Congo

Guerrilla History

October 2025

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DRC-Zambia battery industry

Extractivism & Green Transitions

May 2025

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Mining in Africa

Africa 4 Dummies

January 2024

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Conflict minerals in Africa

African Liberty

September 2023

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Dirty metals for clean energy

The Red Line

November 2022

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Mining hierarchies

Hierarchies of Development

June 2022

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La filière minière artisanale

Le Nouveau Congo

September 2020

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Pandemic insights

LSE-Oxford

May 2020

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Gold from DR Congo

Back to the Source

December 2019

Creative Projects
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The Why Africa Podcast

In 2022, Cynthia Kamwengo and I co-hosted the Why Africa Podcast mini-series, produced and edited by Holly Jewell. Over five episodes, we spoke to students and academics engaged in the work of deconstructing and reconstructing how Africa and its people are taught and researched in the UK education system today.

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Black Histories in Bath

In 2024 and 2025, I was involved in a collaborative project between the University of Bath and Fairfield House Bath to co-create an historical walking tour that celebrates Black histories in the city of Bath, UK. The app is free to download from both Apple and Android playstores.

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The Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE) was established in 1974 by a group of scholars and activists in the UK and Africa. The journal and its website are committed to understanding projects of radical transformation on the continent. As a member of the journal's Editorial Working Group, I interview and commission contributions from radical scholars, scholar-activists, and activists researching and/or contributing to these projects for publication on ROAPE's website. Occasionally, I write there myself. Below is a selection of some of these pieces.

borr20(at)bath.ac.uk

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©2025 BY BEN RADLEY

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