Douglas Yates

Douglas Yates’ fourth book, entitled The Scramble for African Oil: Oppression, Corruption and War for Control of Africa’s Natural Resources (London: Pluto Press, 2012), has just been released.  This book describes how the international demand for oil contributes to the chronic problems plaguing Africa, and is being praised by Michael Klare as “essential reading for anyone seeking an understanding of the resource curse.”  In other news Professor Yates was invited to speak on Radio France International about the presidential elections in Senegal (Jan. 3), and on France24 television about the massive strikes against fuel subsidy cuts in Nigeria (Jan.13 and Jan.16). 

Dr. Douglas Andrew Yates was born in Hollywood, California. After secondary studies at The Buckley School, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Law and Society at the University of California at Santa Barbara. After working for Finley, Kumble, Wagner law firm in Beverly Hills, he was admitted on a fellowship grant to the department of political science at Boston University, where he received his master’s and doctorate. His dissertation on the political economy of oil in sub-Saharan Africa was published as The Rentier State in Africa: Oil-Rent Dependency and Neo-colonialism in the Republic of Gabon (Trenton/Asmara: Africa World Press, 1996). This work was later used by the Catholic Relief Services to develop its African Extractive Industries Initiative. Yates is a frequent contributor to West Africa magazine, a London-based news weekly covering France’s highly controversial African policy.

Upon moving to France, professor Yates besides AUP, he started teaching in the French university system, eventually becoming integrated as a full-time tenured associate professor of law [maitre de conferences] at the law school of the University of Cergy-Pontoise, where he specializes in civil procedure and the rules of evidence. Yates also joined the faculty of the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy, where he became the research methodology advisor, helping graduate students through their master’s theses and doctoral dissertations.

The Rentier State in Africa: Oil-Rent Dependency and Neo-Colonialism in the Republic of Gabon (Trenton/Asmara: Africa World Press, 1996)

Oil Policy in the Gulf of Guinea: Security & Conflict, Economic Growth, Social Development (Bonn: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2004)

The Historical Dictionary of Gabon, 3rd edition (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 2006).

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