Transparency-based policies are currently the principal approach to mitigating the resource curse in developing countries, particularly with respect to corruption and conflict. Policymaking often reflects conventional assumptions about the nature of the problem: the traditional financial opacity of the extractive industries enables illicit appropriation of resource rents, while correlations between natural resource dependency and intrastate conflict are explained through reference to combatant financing mechanisms. Accordingly, transparency has been widely adopted as an integral policy component, whether through financial regulation, commodity Charles Cater The Resource Curse and Transparency Chapter 23 Page 2 tracking, or resource interdiction. Policymaking has also been influenced by political and economic interests among states, international organizations, and transnational corporations. The available evidence suggests there is sufficient reason to critically reexamine the assumption that increased economic transparency necessarily translates into enhanced political accountability in developing countries. The mixed track record of transparency based policies suggests alternative and complementary approaches to escape the resource curse should also be considered.