Paper short abstract:

Because of the resource curse initiatives like EITI have emerged in the global space to counteract it by emphasizing transparency. Knowing Chad’s sociopolitical background of, could the type of knowledge provided by EITI create the expected change in oil policies?

Paper long abstract:

Because of the resource curse diverse initiatives have emerged in the global space to counteract this possibility by emphasizing transparency. EITI is part of these initiatives. ITIE's philosophy is to enable communities living in oil rich countries to demand more accountability from the State on natural resources revenues' management by providing them information on the amounts actually received. This philosophy establishes a link between knowledge and power, making knowledge natural resources revenues' flows a base to better governance driven by citizen's claims for accountability. From a decade oil has taken a great place in the popular politic imaginary in Chad. However, knowing the sociopolitical background of Chad, could the type of knowledge provided by EITI reports create the expected change in oil policies? The paper proposes an anthropological analysis of EITI implementation process in Chad by drawing on the Chadian historical and socio-political context. The argument is that knowledge can induce the expected change (here the citizenship momentum), if its content is intelligible for the targets. Moreover, whatever its relevance, a knowledge that is not able to cope with the local socio-political and historical context, cannot induce change.