| This is an empirical study examining the manner by which petroleum dependency has distorted economic development and inhibited political democratization in the Republic of Gabon. It contributes to the general theoretical debate in political and social science concerning the prospects for democratic reform in the developing world. It also attempts to answer why many countries rich in oil are still so very poor.;The methodology, developed within a political economy framework, has been to examine development plans, government publications, international agencies' reports, petroleum journals, financial statements, historical texts, political analyses, and other published and unpublished documents pertaining to Gabon, in order to test this case against the general theory of the rentier state. The study begins with a broad theoretical discussion of the nature of a state that exists within an economy dominated by external rent, how such a state has a strong inclination to produce a rentier class, how such a class will tend to monopolize and consolidate political power by means of its special access to the external rent, and how in the course of its self-interested activities this kind of state produces serious structural problems for its economy.;The research produced the following findings: (1) The economy of Gabon is in fact a rentier economy dependent on the export of wood, manganese, uranium, and most important, petroleum; (2) Its rent-dependent economy has conditioned the development of a rentier class ruled by president Omar Bongo and supported by his principal trading partner, France; (3) This rentier state has consistently resisted efforts at democratization by its subjects through consolidation of power into a single-party regime, allocation of petroleum rents, and the use of coercion and violence; and (4) The dominance-dependence relationship between France and Gabon has provided president Bongo with the technical, financial, and military backing he required to maintain his personal rule over Gabon for more than a quarter of a century. While these findings are specific to my study, they have implications for the developing world, where issues of political change and democratization are vital. |
