In this article, we analyse the political and social process through which Niger has emerged as a new oil state since 2008. Instead of viewing the situation as a clear-cut resource-curse scenario, we see oil as an important, but by no means determining factor in the country's current political workings. Analysing the main features and narratives of the Nigerien political game in this time of incipient oil production, we first of all observe how various political actors, including the government, political parties, civil society, and wealthy businesspeople, transform oil into a political resource by developing particular notions, images, and meanings of it, including scenarios of a resource curse or resource blessing. We thus argue that in the formative moment of Niger becoming a new oil state, oil appears as an idiom within which Niger's current political and social processes are framed.

中文翻译：

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原油走势：尼日尔的石油、权力和政治

在本文中，我们分析了自 2008 年以来尼日尔成为一个新的石油国家的政治和社会过程。我们没有将这种情况视为明确的资源诅咒情景，而是将石油视为重要的，但绝不是该国当前政治运作的决定性因素。分析这个石油生产初期的尼日尔政治博弈的主要特征和叙事，我们首先观察包括政府、政党、民间社会和富有的商人在内的各种政治行为者如何通过以下方式将石油转化为政治资源。发展它的特定概念、形象和意义，包括资源诅咒或资源祝福的场景。因此我们认为，在尼日尔成为一个新的石油国家的形成时刻，石油似乎是一个成语，在其中尼日尔'