A Paradox of Plenty? Rent Distribution and Political Stability in Oil States

Matthias Basedau and Wolfram Lacher

No 21, GIGA Working Papers from GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies

Abstract: Resource curse theory claims that resource abundance encourages violent conflict. A study of 37 oil-producing developing countries, however, reveals that oil states with very high levels of oil revenue are remarkably stable. An analysis of the ways in which governments spend oil revenues identifies two distinct types of rentier systems - the large-scale distributive state and the patronage-based system - which are strongly linked to instability or its absence. However, some deviant cases, such as Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, illustrate the need for further research. Apparently, the notion of a 'paradox of plenty' has neglected rentier mechanisms that avoid conflict.

Keywords: Resource Curse; Paradox of Plenty; Oil; Rentier State; Violent Conflict; Political Stability; Developing World (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N5 N50 O13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/47851/1/605209502.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:gigawp:21

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in GIGA Working Papers from GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().