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Regina Facteau rf6629a@american American University School of International Service

Natural Resources: A Blessing or a Curse?. Regina Facteau rf6629a@american.edu American University School of International Service. Background/Literature. Revenues external source of rents directly captured by governments, rendering them unaccountable to citizens

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Regina Facteau rf6629a@american American University School of International Service

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  1. Natural Resources: A Blessing or a Curse? Regina Facteau rf6629a@american.edu American University School of International Service

  2. Background/Literature • Revenues external source of rents directly captured by governments, rendering them unaccountable to citizens • “Taxation without representation” • Oil makes authoritative regimes stronger by funding patronage and repressive apparatuses

  3. “Do Natural Resources Fuel Authoritarianism?” by Stephen Haber • Looks at countries’ resource dependence & regime type • Time series approach • Results: oil and mineral reliance does not promote dictatorship over the long run • Resource blessing? • “Oil Wealth and Regime Survival, 1960-1999” by Benjamin Smith • Compares oil wealth with regime failure, anti-state social protest, domestic armed conflict • Results: oil wealth correlated with a stronger state apparatus regardless of oil booms or busts

  4. Research Question • Do nations with abundant natural resources have lower levels of freedom?

  5. Hypothesis • Controlling for literacy rate and GDP per capita, nations with higher levels of oil and natural resource rents will have lower levels of freedom

  6. Data • Interval-ratio level data • Dependent variable: • Level of Political Freedom • Independent Variables • Oil Rents (%gdppc) • Natural Resource Rents (%gdppc) • Adult literacy rate (15 years and older) • GDP Per Capita Sources: Freedom House Index (FDI 2008), World Bank World Development Indicators (WDI 2009)

  7. Dependent Variable N=190 1.5 (Free) To 6.5 (Not Free)

  8. Descriptive Statistics

  9. Bivariate Correlations

  10. Regression Analysis * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001

  11. Conclusion • Reject Null • There is a relationship between natural resource rents and level of freedom • The relationship is negative and moderate • Gdppc is the strongest indicator

  12. Room for Improvement • My data: need more countries for Oil Rent variable • Look at state apparatuses before and after discovery of resources • Take previous colonies into account

  13. Policy Recommendations • To researchers: do not treat countries as homogeneous; use an unlimited time dimension • To policy makers: • research how autocrats use their oil wealth to maintain power • Use Aid to develop non-resource based sectors of a state’s economy

  14. Questions/Comments?

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