Discussions in the preceding chapters have shown that recent conflicts over natural resources in Africa have raised a number of questions, two of which are particularly important. First, why has there been a prevalence of such a category of conflicts in Africa, as compared with other continents of the world? Second, why are some natural resources linked to conflicts in some countries and not in others; or put differently, what are the circumstances and/or political dispensation that can predispose a particular natural resource to become an issue of conflict? In seeking to provide answers to these questions, one is inevitably drawn into matters relating to governance. In this context, governance is defined very broadly as the socioeconomic and political management of state affairs, especially as this relates to the determination of who gets what, when, and through what process. It also involves the interplay of relationships among the different actors concerned with the politics of natural resource management.