Curse, would help a major and uniquely positioned stakeholder—the oil indus - try—work effectively to mitigate it. The oil industry stands to gain from undertaking such a remedial effort. Exchange on Ross’s chapter 4 in Politics & Gender 2009. November 1: The Emergence of Corrective Voices in the Oil Curse Debate. Introduction and initial literature review due..
Countries that are rich in petroleum have less democracy, less economic stability, and more frequent civil wars than countries without oil. What explains this oil curse?
And can it be fixed? In this groundbreaking analysis, Michael L. Ross looks at how developing nations are shaped by their mineral wealth-and how they can turn oil from a curse into a blessing.
Ross traces Countries that are rich in petroleum have less democracy, less economic stability, and more frequent civil wars than countries without oil. What explains this oil curse?
And can it be fixed? In this groundbreaking analysis, Michael L. Ross looks at how developing nations are shaped by their mineral wealth-and how they can turn oil from a curse into a blessing. Ross traces the oil curse to the upheaval of the 1970s, when oil prices soared and governments across the developing world seized control of their countries' oil industries. Before nationalization, the oil-rich countries looked much like the rest of the world; today, they are 50 percent more likely to be ruled by autocrats-and twice as likely to descend into civil war-than countries without oil.
The Oil Curse shows why oil wealth typically creates less economic growth than it should; why it produces jobs for men but not women; and why it creates more problems in poor states than in rich ones. It also warns that the global thirst for petroleum is causing companies to drill in increasingly poor nations, which could further spread the oil curse. This landmark book explains why good geology often leads to bad governance, and how this can be changed. This book is a study on the effects of having large amounts of oil resources in developing (poor) countries.
If a country has Oil revenues it usually hampers the development of democratic institutions in that country leaving it authoritarian. When the government has large oil revenues it doesn't need the consent of the people and has less incentive to become more democratic. It tends to support patriarchy and is more susceptible to civil war as various groups want to claim the windfalls or suff This book is a study on the effects of having large amounts of oil resources in developing (poor) countries. If a country has Oil revenues it usually hampers the development of democratic institutions in that country leaving it authoritarian. When the government has large oil revenues it doesn't need the consent of the people and has less incentive to become more democratic. It tends to support patriarchy and is more susceptible to civil war as various groups want to claim the windfalls or suffer from exploitation of resources in their area with no benefit. It stifles economic growth since rent seeking from oil wealth is the government's priority instead of developing economic growth from other sources.
It has recommendations for govt's to avoid these curses and what importing countries should do to minimize the curse for oil producers. I really wanted to like this book. Because, come on - i love me some facts and statistics, right?
But the book was SO weighed down with numbers it was just DRY. The narrative parts, where he talks about the history of the countries that struggled with their government and society post-petroleum discovery were great, but then he launched into the numbers and charts and, zzzzzzz. I want and expect some of that to prove the point, but you need more balance with narrative to keep it from sigh. I really wanted to like this book. Because, come on - i love me some facts and statistics, right? But the book was SO weighed down with numbers it was just DRY. The narrative parts, where he talks about the history of the countries that struggled with their government and society post-petroleum discovery were great, but then he launched into the numbers and charts and, zzzzzzz.
I want and expect some of that to prove the point, but you need more balance with narrative to keep it from being a textbook. I found this book in the section of published books in the magazine Foreign Affairs. I really enjoyed reading The Oil Curse because the author did a lot of research for writing this book.
He spent almost ten years doing the research on the oil systems and economies. For Ross, Oil is a curse indeed. But not simply for the environment impact that produces, mostly due for the political and social changes that causes. The author clearly explains that oil countries (countries that extracts and produc I found this book in the section of published books in the magazine Foreign Affairs. I really enjoyed reading The Oil Curse because the author did a lot of research for writing this book.
He spent almost ten years doing the research on the oil systems and economies. For Ross, Oil is a curse indeed. But not simply for the environment impact that produces, mostly due for the political and social changes that causes.
The author clearly explains that oil countries (countries that extracts and produces their oil) are more propense and vulnerable to major political destabilization and changes. One of the many reasons of this, is that the government depends too much on oil revenues and to little on taxes. Since oil revenues are strictly secret, this becomes a favorable strategy to the government to function as autocracy or dictatorship in order to perpetuate their mandate, regardless of the general opinion of their people. Another example that Ross explains is that, oil business is very sexist. Women have little or no role in the oil business, since these companies prefers to employ men before women. In my opinion, this book is well written and the analysis are excellent. The author used an extensive research and investigations to sustain the arguments and explains in details the data obtain through the research.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in how oil business works and how it changes a country. This is a very well written and researched book about the comparative political economy of oil-exporting countries. Books on this topic in the last two decades are few and far between and mostly of inferior quality. This one fills a major gap in the literature by tackling a number of important issues.
The first is the question of the “Dutch disease” or resource curse. According to the literature on the resource curse, oil export revenues tend to hinder rather than promote economic growth.
Confir This is a very well written and researched book about the comparative political economy of oil-exporting countries. Books on this topic in the last two decades are few and far between and mostly of inferior quality.
This one fills a major gap in the literature by tackling a number of important issues. The first is the question of the “Dutch disease” or resource curse. According to the literature on the resource curse, oil export revenues tend to hinder rather than promote economic growth. Confirming empirical evidence for the resource curse came mainly from data collected between 1970 and 1990.
With a new and longer data series, the author shows that economic growth in oil exporting countries is not statistically different from that in other countries but instead that the volatility of growth is greater. Oil exporting states were less likely than others to make a successful transition to democracy or to improve the status of women. They were more likely to experience civil wars and to conceal crucial information about the economy. In short, there is still something of a curse but not the one originally posited. This study is likely to be a starting point for all subsequent research on the subject.
Michael Ross received his Ph.D. In Politics from Princeton University in 1996. From 1996 to 2001 he was an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He also spent the 2000 calendar year as a Visiting Scholar at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and Jakarta, Indonesia. He is now Professor of Political Science, and Director of the UCLA Center Michael Ross received his Ph.D. In Politics from Princeton University in 1996.
From 1996 to 2001 he was an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He also spent the 2000 calendar year as a Visiting Scholar at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and Jakarta, Indonesia. He is now Professor of Political Science, and Director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies. His research deals with political economy, democratization, natural resources, and poverty in the developing world - particularly (but not exclusively) in Southeast Asia. His main project is a book on the 'resource curse' that explains why countries with lots of natural resource wealth tend to do worse than countries with with resource wealth. His 2008 article, 'Oil, Islam, and Women,' received the Heinz Eulau Award from the American Political Science Association, for the best article published in the American Political Science Review. Chair of UCLA International Development Studies Interdepartmental Program 2004-2008.
Director, UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 2007-present.