Journal ArticleDOI
Does Oil Hinder Democracy
TLDR
The authors examined three aspects of this "oil impedes democracy" claim and found that oil exports are strongly associated with authoritarian rule, and that other types of mineral exports have a similar antidemocratic effect, while other commodity exports do not.Abstract:
Some scholars suggest that the Middle East's oil wealth helps explain its failure to democratize. This article examines three aspects of this “oil impedes democracy” claim. First, is it true? Does oil have a consistendy antidemocratic effect on states, once other factors are accounted for? Second, can this claim be generalized? Is it true only in the Middle East or elsewhere as well? Is it true for other types of mineral wealth and other types of commodity wealth or only for oil? Finally, if oil does have antidemocratic properties, what is the causal mechanism?The author uses pooled time-series cross-national data from 113 states between 1971 and 1997 to show that oil exports are strongly associated with authoritarian rule; that this effect is not limited to the Middle East; and that other types of mineral exports have a similar antidemocratic effect, while other types of commodity exports do not.The author also tests three explanations for this pattern: a “rentier effect,” which suggests that resource-rich governments use low tax rates and patronage to dampen democratic pressures; a “repression effect,” which holds that resource wealth enables governments to strengthen their internal security forces and hence repress popular movements; and a “modernization effect,” which implies that growth that is based on the export of oil and minerals will fail to bring about die social and cultural changes that tend to produce democratic government. He finds at least limited support for all three effects.read more
Citations
More filters
Book
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
Daron Acemoglu,James A. Robinson +1 more
TL;DR: Acemoglu and Robinson as discussed by the authors argue that incentives and institutions are what separate the have and have-nots, and that if they work hard, they can make money and actually keep it, the key to ensuring these incentives is sound institutions.
Book
Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence
TL;DR: The authors presented a model of social change that predicts how the value systems play a crucial role in the emergence and flourishing of democratic institutions, and that modernisation brings coherent cultural changes that are conducive to democratisation.
Posted Content
Institutions and the resource curse
TL;DR: In this article, the authors claim that the main reason for diverging experiences is differences in the quality of institutions, and they test this theory building on Sachs and Warner's influential works on the resource curse.
Book
Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy
TL;DR: The authors argues that civil war is now an important issue for development and that war retards development, but conversely, development retards war, giving rise to virtuous and vicious circles.
Journal ArticleDOI
Institutions and the Resource Curse
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors claim that the main reason for diverging experiences is differences in the quality of institutions, and they test this theory building on Sachs and Warner's influential works on the resource curse.
References
More filters
BookDOI
Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy
TL;DR: Putnam et al. as discussed by the authors analyzed the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, revealing patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity.
Book
The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century
TL;DR: The third wave of democratization in the late 1970s and early 1990s as mentioned in this paper is the most important political trend in the last half of the 20th century, according to the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
What to do (and not to do) with time-series cross-section data
Nathaniel Beck,Jonathan N. Katz +1 more
TL;DR: The generalized least squares approach of Parks produces standard errors that lead to extreme overconfidence, often underestimating variability by 50% or more, and a new method is offered that is both easier to implement and produces accurate standard errors.
Book
Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy
TL;DR: The conditions associated with the existence and stability of democratic society have been a leading concern of political philosophy as discussed by the authors, and the problem is attacked from a sociological and behavioral standpoint, by presenting a number of hypotheses concerning some social requisites for democracy, and by discussing some of the data available to test these hypotheses.