Dr Nelson Oppong is a is a lecturer in the Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh whose research devotes to the politics of natural resources, institutional reform, state building and related global processes in low-income countries. He is a member of the Editorial Working Group of the Review of African Political Economy, a Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy and a Democracy and Development Fellow at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD)-Ghana. Nelson completed a Doctor of Philosophy in International Development from the University of Oxford, where he also received an M.Phil. degree in Development Studies. He possesses another M.Phil. degree in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Political Science, French and Philosophy from the University of Ghana.