| You could mangle/simplify the "resource curse" theory: 1. Liberal democracy. Economy works more or less, so the leaders have lots to stea.. tax. 2. Dictator. Most everything, including citizens, belong to the dictator. Bad economy and dangerous, since dictators must have external enemies (so all complaints are treason). 3. A country with natural resources. There is no need for leaders to go to 1, since there is enough to steal anyway. Keep people down and fill the Swiss account as long as possible. This categorization explain why democratizing has gone up for a few decades. Model "1" generally gives more to steal for the politicians, even though they can only get part of the country. "2" is the only alternative if most people (would) hate the dictator if they got free media. See North Korea. Iran is an obvious example of model "3". (The only country I can mention that doesn't fit the [broad] categories is China, but they start far back so give them time.) Point is, oil would help NK's dictators but not anyone else. |