Word.ws English Dictionary

resource curse

resource curse noun: a phenomenon in which nations or regions rich in natural resources tend to become politically unstable and/or economically stagnant.

Noun

resource curse (uncountable)

  1. A phenomenon in which nations or regions rich in natural resources tend to become politically unstable and/or economically stagnant.
    • As [Luke] Drago and [Rudolf] Laine note, Congo [the Democratic Republic of the Congo] is rich in natural resources. The nation holds substantial oil reserves and about $24 trillion in mineral wealth. Yet Congo is among the five poorest nations on the planet, with more than 70 percent of its people...2025 November 4, Eric Levitz, “The most likely AI apocalypse: How artificial intelligence could be leading most humans into an inescapable trap”, in Vox

Questions about resource curse

What does resource curse mean?
Resource curse means a phenomenon in which nations or regions rich in natural resources tend to become politically unstable and/or economically stagnant.
What part of speech is resource curse?
Resource curse is a noun.

Words near resource curse in the dictionary

  1. resoundingly
  2. resoundingness
  3. resoundings
  4. resounds
  5. resource
  6. resource curse
  7. Resource Directory Description Language
  8. resource energies
  9. resource energy
  10. resource fair
  11. resource fairs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: resource curse (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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