Oil Rentierism, Regime Type, and Environmental Governance in the Gulf of Guinea: A Comparative Analysis

This study advances comparative analysis of the relationship between oil rentierism, regime type, and environmental governance quality across Gulf of Guinea oil-producing states, developing theoretical refinements to the rentier state theory that better account for sub-national environmental governance variation. The established rentier state theory predicts that oil-dependent states invest less in environmental regulation because rents reduce the fiscal dependence on productive domestic activity that would otherwise incentivise environmental protection to maintain productive capacity. However, existing empirical applications have focused on national-level comparisons and have not adequately explained subnational variation in environmental governance within single oil-exporting states. Drawing on the rentier state theory, the comparative environmentalism literature, and the political ecology tradition, the study develops an original multi-level framework that disaggregates rentier governance effects at the national, subnational, and community levels. The framework is applied through comparative case analysis covering Nigeria, Gabon, and Angola, with primary fieldwork in Nigeria's Niger Delta states conducting interviews with environmental regulators, oil company officials, community leaders, and environmental advocates. The study finds that regime type moderates the relationship between rentierism and environmental governance quality in the Gulf of Guinea, with nominally democratic systems exhibiting stronger formal environmental regulation but weaker enforcement than more authoritarian systems where environmental agency autonomy is institutionalised through technocratic insulation. The original contribution lies in disaggregating rentier effects by governance level and regime type, producing more refined predictions than the standard rentier theory provides. Keywords: oil rentierism, environmental governance, Gulf of Guinea, comparative analysis, rentier state theory