Energy And Democracy

This article probes into the extensive commonplaces of "resource curse" in the framework of political significance. It is generally thought abundance in oil resource may lead to the stagnation of a given nation's economic progress. The influence of energy on a national economy could be thorough and extensive, which is boiled down to the given term "Dutch Disease". Nerveless, researches on "Dutch Disease" have now been broadened to the political spectrum, especially in the arena of political democracy. As some scholars allege that energy, with petroleum as representative, could be highly anti-democratic. After careful consideration of the political structures, the fiscal and revenue arrangements of which are especially in question. From a classical economic perspective, the national income of a petro-state is based on rents, rather than taxation, which is of significant research value on deciding upon why the national construction design of a petro-state could be so different from the West. The differences of denotations between rent and revenue in economic terms illustrate causes why petro-states adopt a contrary attitude to revenue, despite their resemblance to the political arrangements in question with the West. On the other hand, it is found that the stagnation of political development of the regime functioning on oil rents may face a political mechanism that uniquely distinguishes itself as a Rentier State. The politics of a Rentier State is deeply harassed by logic that "oil control politics". Rentier State has formed a series of political and social tools to make the rule of oil overwhelming. It is also perceived that petro-states are strongly influenced by petrodollar and petrodollar recycling. And the advantaged nations, out of the concerns for its own sake, may prefers a conservative petro-state, rather than a reformative one. As conclude, The political development of petro-states can be explained from its structures per se.