Why Oil Impedes Democracy Is The Repression Effect Analysis

The example of Saudi Arabia is worth mentioning again. The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 80% of budget revenues, 45% of GDP, and 90% of export earnings . The state is the major employer and provides its people with free education however according to Andre Elias Mazawi, these institutions (schools and universities) have little independence in the form of ‘academic policies, staffing and budgeting’ . This is clearly an attempt to exert its influence over institutions famous for breading different ways of thinking and political activism.
Collectively the ‘Rentier effect’ shows the…. The second causal explanation of why oil impedes democracy is the repression effect. It links the authoritarian nature of a state and ways in which it can maintain power through using wealth from its rent to help oppress.
With the Internet and everything it brings (instantaneous communication and social media) now a part of everyday life across the globe, its hard to believe that people in middle eastern authoritarian states have no concept of the democratic process and the benefits it can bring to the populace. “Citizens in oil rich countries may want democracy as much as citizens

Ross states that to produce a more accountable and democratic government certain social changes need to take place. The modernization effect argument drew on the previous work of scholars Inglehart , Lipset and Deutsch and argued if “Occupational specialization, urbanization and higher levels of education” were to all improve, that in turn would help develop democracy prosper. Better education would lead to a more enlightened public better equipped to communicate and organize while improvements in occupational specialization would lead to enhanced skills and a more powerful middle-class. However, the scholars found that with oil wealth, these social changes are heavily inhibited, thus so is the democratic