Oil Curse : The Political And Economic Growth

The petroleum trade in chad was supposed to seriously help the poverty rate and benefit the country but it seems it's done just about the opposite. Even though the oil trade brings in money it has negatively affected the local people ESPECIALLY the people around the petroleum extraction itself. For example In the Eastern Logone region that includes the Doba Oil Basin and about 38% of Chad's population was rated 3rd poorest region of chad despite the hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil exported. the other affects on the people are endless and further contamination is always a hazard. There already has been some contamination there have been drainage canals have polluted the surface including the groundwater used by the locals,infertile and contaminated quarries have been returned to farmers without being cleaned or secured,rivers have been sullied by oil spills. These are just some of the environmental impacts the oil trade has on Chad and I think this is a good example that not all companies and corporations can benefit a country even if they bring in money. The oil trade in Chad is a very controversial topic especially in chad there are benefits economically but there are also environmental

According to Diamond, oil-states can be generally defined as countries whose economies are dominated by oil. Among “the twenty-three countries whose economies are most dominated by oil today, not a single one of them is a democracy. (Diamond 74)” When oil initially becomes a large source of revenue for countries, negative effects immediately occur. One major reason for this is that when an economy is dominated by

In Chapters 3 and 4 of Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil, Miller expands his reasoning of the historical importance of oil. First, Miller frames how the control of oil resources played a major role in the cause and execution of the First World War as well as in the political restructuring that followed the resolution of the conflict. Next, he expands these ideas by showing how the European powers retained control by using the doctrine of “self-determination, or native-rule” (Miller 88). While Miller makes many notable statements, the two that exemplify his position best are, “ The translation of democracy into self-determination enabled the survival of European control, including the control of oil” (Miller 84), and “A

“There is, then, an economic basis for the absence of democracy in the Arab world. But it is structural. It has to do with the ways in which oil distorts the state, the market, the class structure, and the entire incentive structure. Particularly in an era of high global oil prices, the effects of the oil curse are relentless: Not a single one of the 23 countries that derive most of their export earnings from oil and gas is a democracy today.”

Two-thirds of the world’s remaining oil reserves are in the Middle East which will make international policy imperative in the future (Campbell 2007). It is

Much of the world’s oil supply comes from this region, and if ISIS is allowed to take control of it the global economy would greatly suffer.

In order for Chad’s economy to succeed in the future, major reforms on oil revenue transparency are necessary. As a result of social and political conflicts, Chad has historically been characterized by division and warfare. Since the discovery of oil during the 1960s, these conflicts have only been exacerbated. The oil pipeline that began construction in 1999 as a result of this discovery inadvertently fueled the tension that had been created. The revenues that were generated from the pipeline were not allocated with transparency, which caused dissent on a global scale. This project was supposed to be an example for all oil-dependent developing countries that agreement and control of revenues could help grow a country’s economy. Ultimately, the methods used to control the revenues in Chad have been inefficient, and are in need of further reforms such as improved national dialogue and access to information.

The ambition of the often autocratic leaders to acquire more land, which may bring them access to oil, water or arable land. The problem according to Sørli et. al is “scarcity” and “abundance” (147). Water is scarce, and oil is in abundance, but the access to both is limited. According to our text, the new “water wars” have emerged as a major source of conflict, in addition to the “oil wars” (Anderson et. al, 226). Water is scarce in the Middle East, and will continue to dwindle as the population rises. Not every country has the same access to the water sources, which will naturally cause problems. For example, Israel has control of the Golan, and Egypt of the Nile, and Kuwait of the Persian Gulf. Oil is in abundance, but only to a limited number of countries in the Middle East causing great economic disparity between those who have, and those who do not. Kuwait, having access to the Persian Gulf, produces a large supply of oil to international players. Given its high value internationally, and its worth, oil is much sought after.

The oil-rich Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, located on the northern coast of South America, was for many decades considered among the wealthiest nations in the entire continent. While having the largest proven oil reserves in the world has often proved a tremendous boon for Venezuela, the very black gold that has been the cause of its success has also proven to repeatedly be its kryptonite. Over half of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product stems from petroleum exports – which equates to approximately 95% of total exports. It is really not too hard to imagine what drastic consequences shifts in global oil prices could have on the economy.

Oil has often been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Although this is an overemphasis, oil has been the key, nonhuman resource of the economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic importance of this product.

The Middle East region is a conservative cultural and religious area that grew at only half the rate of other developing countries during the 1990s. A number of factors such as structural imbalances, the so-called 'curse of natural-culture and religious conflicts, are highlighted for the slow economic development in the Middle East. Similarly, Abed (2003) identifies five main causes holding back the economic growth of the Middle East i.e. lagging political reforms, dominant public sector; underdeveloped financial markets; high trade restrictiveness and inappropriate exchange regimes. apart from these , some of the others factors include the lack of integration into the global

Imagine a world where daily planned blackouts and shorter workdays were implemented to conserve energy. For people living in Venezuela and Libya, this is very much the norm. In addition to being two of the most corrupt and politically unstable governments in the world, Venezuela and Libya are plagued with problems surrounding their energy sectors. This is surprising, since they are both globally known for being oil-rich countries. Venezuela had 300 billion barrels of oil reserves in 2016, passing oil-rich Saudi Arabia at 266 billion barrels, Iran at 158 billion, and Iraq at 142 billion. Libya on the other hand, had about 50 billion barrels of reserves in 2015 (OPEC, 2016). So, where does the oil go and why do Venezuelans and Libyans suffer energy poverty if they live in oil-rich regions of the world? Nearly all of it is exported out of the country for profit, leaving many of the local citizens in these two countries empty handed. Corruption revolving around these countries’ oil exports has pairs with political instability and leads to a plethora of economic, political, and social problems.

Currently Saudi Arabia is one of the leading producers of oil in the world. However, it is losing its foothold on the market. Many countries, like North America, are increasing their oil production and are looking for ways to become less dependent on foreign oil. The increased competition has caused oil prices to decrease. By producing their own oil, countries not only will increase their revenues, but will also reduce their need to rely on foreign oil. By reducing their need foreign an oil a country does not have to worry that their oil supply will be cut off if they go to war.

Additionally, technology level is unsatisfied and far behind from other developing regions. Education, judiciary system, political structure and property rights of Middle East and North Africa countries are generally not scheduled in agreement with requirements of high knowledge, technology, skill and talent of labours. This decline over the course of history can be related with choice of development strategies in MENA region.

However, resources do not always automatically lead to poor outcomes. For instance, North America produces more oil than Africa, but it has the lowest resource rents as a share of GDP and has good governance ratings. Canada remains among the top ten world oil producers, according to the US Department of Energy, but has one of the least corrupt governments in the world, also according to the World Bank. Norway is one of the top ten exporters of crude oil in the world, while maintaining its stature as a perennial leader of the United Nations Human Development Index. In this way, natural resource curse did not appear to be unavoidable.