Resource, Region, Ruin
Understanding Conflict through the MASI Framework
About the MASI Framework
Why do resource-rich regions often descend into instability?
The MASI Framework is a groundbreaking tool for understanding why resource-rich regions often experience conflict, inequality, and institutional failure. Introduced in Resource, Region, and Ruin by Dr. Joshua Gogo, MASI analyzes four core dimensions—Mobility, Access to Voice, Spatial Burden, and the Welfare Gap—to diagnose structural injustice and political instability. This site brings the insights of the book to life, offering tools, research, and resources for scholars, policymakers, and changemakers committed to building more just and resilient societies.
Mobility
Access to Voice
Welfare Gap
Spatial Burden
Rooted in economic, political, and geographic analysis, MASI is both a diagnostic and a blueprint—designed to help policymakers, researchers, and communities uncover the deeper causes of instability and chart a path toward justice.
About the Book
Resource, Region, and Ruin is a powerful exploration of why natural wealth often leads to conflict instead of prosperity. Drawing on global case studies and introducing the MASI Framework, Dr. Joshua Gogo reveals how issues of mobility, exclusion, spatial burden, and inequality fuel instability in resource-rich regions. This thought-provoking book offers both a diagnosis and a path forward—making it essential reading for anyone interested in governance, development, and structural justice.
Meet the Author
Joshua Gogo, PhD, CMC, ICD.D, CFA, is an economist and institutional strategist specializing in natural wealth, fiscal governance, and structural reform. With early experience as an oil field engineer, he developed the MASI framework to assess risk and performance in resource-rich regions. Dr. Gogo has advised governments, energy companies, investors, and global institutions on extractive policy, federal structures, and organizational design. A CFA charterholder and certified board director, he combines field insight with economic analysis to deliver actionable strategies that drive institutional resilience, investment confidence, and sustainable growth in complex political and economic environments.
Case Study: The Niger Delta and the Escalation of Resistance
MASI Analysis: A Region on the Edge
- High Spatial Burden (S): The region bears the environmental, social, and health costs of oil extraction.
- Low Mobility (M): Many communities, especially riverine settlements, are geographically, culturally and economically trapped.
- Low Access to Voice (A): Political inclusion is symbolic. National institutions reflect extractive priorities rather than regional development needs.
- High Welfare Gap (ΔW): Expectations of prosperity have not been met.
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