Exactly - although it is especially true for oil - it also applies to any plantation or resource extraction based society. Often these types of countries are locked into larger mercantile systems, locked into markets and ruled by fifty families per country that feel greater affinity for the ruling classes of the empire (or great power zone of influence) they belong to than with their own fellow countrymen.
From: everything-list@googlegroups.com [mailto:everything-list@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of meekerdb Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 10:53 AM To: everything-list@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Our Demon-Haunted World On 11/8/2013 2:34 AM, Bruno Marchal wrote: I read a paper arguing in that direction, showing that Jordanian have much less tryanny thanks to the absence of oil. That makes sense. It is easier to do that type of business with Tyrant, than with elected people. Sure, in political theory it's known as "the oil curse". Any nation that gets most of its wealth by selling its natural resources tends to be corrupted by it. The ruling class makes the deal to sell the resources and they take a big cut for themselves, but they pacify the populace by giving them a stipend from the sales. But then nobody is really employed or develops any industry or skills. Everybody is dependent on "the deal" which ultimately means the corporations paying for the resource. Brent -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
