THE DICHOTOMY OF OIL RICHES

By
Ms. Cauvery Ganapathy

The existence of natural resources should normally bring a windfall of benefits to a nation. Yet, international experience testifies to the fact that conflicts originating in the context of resources are beget not only between nations, but also within them. Prevalent cleavages have for varied reasons and in varying manners, been exacerbated in several resource rich countries. The phenomena is not exclusive to the possessors of any single natural resource; yet, undeniably, oil wealth seems the most prominent harbinger of poor political and economic discipline. Nearly a third of the petroleum rich nations appear mired in poor developmental statistics. The nature of internal troubles in these countries or the trajectory of it, may vary, but all these nations unfailingly manage to evoke images of unrest. The idea here, therefore, is to consider whether it is a matter of mere chance that so many petroleum economies bear a distinctly unstable and undemocratic social and political circumstance. Detailed Paper