36

This article dwells on multi-stakeholder negotiations in the extractive industrial sector, and on the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) in particular. This Initiative aims at putting an end to the so-called oil curse plaguing developing countries by requiring full transparency on payments by extractive firms to resource-rich states. It further requests states to publish the revenues they derive from the extraction of natural resources. This article looks at what is at stake in the negotiation and focuses on the EITI process itslef. It assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the negotiation and implementation modalities by analyzing the major challenges facing multi-stakeholder initiatives.