Book Evaluation: Pauline Jones Luong and Erika Weinthal. Oil is not a curse: ownership structure and institutions in Soviet successor states (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
In the book Oil Is Not a Curse, the authors test their hypothesis about the underlying causal mechanisms for resource curse through congruence procedures, and conclude by proposing an edge-cutting argument: whoever owns and controls the mineral sector affects the emergence of fiscal regimes that vary in terms of their ability to constrain and enable the state. In other words, mineral-rich states are "cursed" not by their wealth but rather by the structure of ownership they choose to manage their mineral wealth. The authors view ownership structure over mineral resources as an intermediary cause of institutional weakness. The form of ownership structure adopted by a resource-rich country shapes incentives for subsequent institution building, affects the institutional outcome (particularly the fiscal regime), and hence “the prospects for building state capacity and achieving long-term economic growth.” (p.9). By resting their argument on two bases, 1) the absolute immunity to direct external interference in domestic decision-making process, and 2) leaders’ own consciousness when constituting policy, the book challenges traditional resource curse wisdom by asserting that the structure of resource ownership functions as a determining variable that directs the pattern of resource management and its eventual welfare in developing countries. This argument does have its scholarly merits, but nonetheless is not flawless.
Contributions: A new variable and A New Measurement
One of the book’s most significant contributions to scholarship is its discovery of...
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...he elites' perceptions of societal expectations. The problem with this is that they ignore the gap between perceptions and actual facts. Political speeches contain more rhetoric than reality and thus, they provide shaky support at best for their argument and at worst provide a completely false impression.
To sum up, Oil is Not a Curse provides an enlightening discussion of how to manage nature resources in order to make them a cure rather than a curse. Though the base of the hypothesis presented in the book is shaky, it still is an inspired break from traditional wisdom. The authors contribute to scholarly understanding by discovering a default analytical anchor in conventional literature the acknowledgement of which allows for a new way in the future research of resource curse: the degree of variation and/or uniformity in resource ownership across time and space.
"You're a human being, not an animal. You have the right to be loved" (262). "Son of the Revolution" by Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro was a book that showed how inhumane many of the aspects of Chinese life were during the Cultural Revolution. The book followed Liang Heng through many of his childhood memories to his departure from China in his twenties. The book applied a real face to the important movements during the Cultural Revolution, the effects that "the cult of Mao" had on society and Heng, and the way the period affected Heng's personal family life.
He also explains that the public succumbs to the stereotypes that support the government: news, law enforcement, and politicians. Lippmann then points out that the “visible government” is the aftermath of the assumptions made by the public about democracy. Lippmann argues, “the substance of the argument is that democracy in its original form never seriously faced the problem which arises because the pictures inside people’s heads do not automatically correspond with the world outside” (Lippmann 19). This argument makes sense because the interpretation of symbols and fictions, as well as propaganda and stereotypes, differentiates person to person. As democracy has developed, the pictures inside people’s minds have pushed it from its original form. Concurrently, the people in power have the same distorted picture in their head. He continues this evaluation by saying, “for in each of these innumerable centers of authority there are parties, and these parties are themselves hierarchies with their roots in classes, sections, cliques and clans; and within these are the individual politicians, each the personal center of a web of connection and memory and fear and hope” (Lippmann 13). This places the public at risk because their leaders are acting with a pre-disposition to certain stereotypes and the effect trickles down to plague the
Richard Manning Wrote the essay “The Oil We Eat – Following the Food Chain Back to Iraq” which was published in Harper’s Magazine February 2004 edition. In this essay, Manning discusses the evolution of agriculture and the consequences of it. Furthermore, Manning explores the relationship of fossil fuel, food calories and transfer of energy to illustrate earth’s prospective future. Through the use of charismatically presented factual arguments, visual powerful emotional narratives and the credibility of a few choice names, Manning creates an environment in his essay that allows flaws to escape otherwise unknown to majority reader.
War and Peace in the Middle East by Avi Shlaim. In the novel War and Peace In the Middle East, author Avi Shlaim argues that Arab nations have been unable to escape the post-Ottoman syndrome. In particular, he describes how the various powers inside and outside the region have failed to produce peace. While some of Shlaim's arguments hinder the message, I agree with his overall thesis that the Middle East problems were caused and prolonged by the failure of both powers and superpowers to take into account the regional interests of the local states.
Suny, Ronald Grigor. The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
In some shape or form, nearly all aspects of American life contribute to unnecessary exploitation of natural resources. The automobile is a staple of American life and culture, and perhaps best exemplifies Americans’ dependence on gross quantities of raw materials. On any given day, over 235 million vehicles travel 11 billion miles on U.S. highways, consuming nearly 20 million barrels of oil daily 1,2,3. Worldwide, oil consumption has reached a 16-year high of 80.6 million barrels per day 17. Most important of all, proven oil reserves around the world only provide roughly 40 years of production at these current rates 18. Oil consumers ignore this reality either through lack of education or simple apathy, because right now there are no immediate consequences to consuming such vast volumes of a polluting, non-renewable resource. Numbers like those mentioned above are so large it is difficult for one to fathom their true magnitude, however they still convey the reliance average Americans have on their automobiles and oil.
The book begins as the Soviet Union’s ability to provide their own oil is cut off by a terrorist attack. Right away it is noted that two very frightening events have just happened. Terrorism, for one, is a major scare tactic that can and does strike fear into millions. This was demonstrated by two suspected attacks in the U.S. recently (Bombing of Flight 800 and the Olympic Park bombing). Secondly, the threat of losing petroleum resources is enough to drive governments to drastic measures. This fact is evident in the world’s participation in the 1991 Gulf War. The leaders of the Soviet Union decided that the only way to prevent the total collapse of their economy and country was to seize the oil rich Middle East.
The film "The Prize" is a documentary film that based on the book "The Prize" by Daniel Yergin. The title of the fourth episode "The Prize" is called war and oil, the main idea of this episode is cover the role of oil during the World War II, and the point that first mentioned in the video is that oil was an determine factor for the World War II result. This paper will cover some of the major historical event that mentioned in the film.
The economic and technological development since the twentieth century has been fuelled mainly by oil, just as the early industrial revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has been fuelled by coal. ...
Crude Impact is a documentary created by James Jandak Wood in 2006. His film talks about the connect between humans, oil, and the environment. He informs the viewer that our dependency on oil is the reason for increasing human population growth. Wood also talks about the negative effects oil has on our health and the environment. Because of the United States dependency on oil, it causes great stress to foreign relationships. Wood’s film uncover the truth about oil and informs the audience of its dangers.
" Oil is the life blood of our modern industrial society. It fuels the machines and lubricates the wheels of the world’s production. But when that vital resource is out of control, it can destroy marine life and devastate the environment and economy of an entire region…. The plain facts are that the technology of oil-- its extraction, its transport, its refinery and use-- has outpaced laws to control that technology and prevent oil from polluting the environment…" (Max, 1969). Oil in its many forms has become one of the necessities of modern industrial life. Under control, and serving its intended purpose, oil is efficient, versatile, and productive. On the other hand, when oil becomes out of control, it can be one of the most devastating substances in the environment. When spilled in water, it spreads for miles around leaving a black memory behind (Stanley, 1969).
Wright, G. & Czelusta, J. (2004). Why Economies Slow The Myth ofthe Resource Curse. Challenge, 47 (2), 6–38.
This happens when a weaker country is invaded and its resources are exploited by a powerful country.
Oil is an essential resource in the whole world. People use oil in a variety of ways. The world has used oil for many years and it will still use it as a basic commodity. Oil use can be traced back to 1850s. However, when Edwin Drake produced commercially usable quantities of crude oil from a 69-foot well in Pennsylvania in 1859, he marked a new period that considered oil as a valuable commodity. Oil prices have been inconsistent since 1859. The discoveries of more wells considerably lowered oil prices and made some oil barons abandon the industry. However, oil prices have increased over time because of several factors.
The question to be answered in this paper is to what extent has the resource curse affected the Nigerian economy and government? Resource curse is a term that states the observation that countries that have a plethora of natural resources (e.g. oil, coal, diamonds etc.) usually have unstable political and economic structures (Sachs, 827). Nigeria is categorized as a nation that has succumb to the resource curse as it has an abundance of, and an overdependence on, oil, and a decreasing gross domestic product (GDP) (Samuels, 321-322). Nigeria is known for its specialization and overdependence on oil and according to Ross, nations of such nature tend to have high levels of poverty, large class gaps, weak educational systems, more corruption within the government, and are less likely to become democracies (Ross, 356). The political instability and regime change in Nigeria will be observed in this paper. The resource curse has greatly weakened Nigeria as it has led to the numerous regime changes, the hindering of the nation’s democratization, corruption in the government, as well as, civil conflict.