Oil Wealth and the Poverty of Politics: Algeria Compared PDF
Preview Oil Wealth and the Poverty of Politics: Algeria Compared
Oil Wealth and the Poverty of Politics How can we make sense of Algeria’s post-colonial experience – the tragedyofunfulfilledexpectations,thedescentintoviolence,theresur- gence of the state? Oil Wealth and the Poverty of Politics explains why Algeria’s domestic political economy unraveled from the mid-1980s, andhowtheregimeeventuallymanagedtoregainpowerandhegemony. MiriamR.Lowiarguestheimportanceofleadershipdecisionsforpolitical outcomes,andextendstheargumenttoexplainthevariationinstability in oil-exporting states following economic shocks. Comparing Algeria withIran,Iraq,Indonesia,andSaudiArabia,sheaskswhysomestates break down and undergo regime change, while others remain stable, or manage to re-stabilize after a period of instability. In contrast with exclusivelystructuralistaccountsoftherentierstate,thisbookdemon- stratesthatpoliticalstabilityisafunctionofthewayinwhichstructureand agencycombine. Miriam R.Lowi is Professor of Political Science at The College of NewJersey.HerpreviouspublicationsincludeWaterandPower:thePolitics ofaScarceResourceintheJordanRiverBasin(CambridgeUniversityPress, 1993)andEnvironmentandSecurity:DiscoursesandPractices(2000). CambridgeMiddleEastStudies32 EditorialBoard CharlesTripp(generaleditor) JuliaClancy-Smith F.GregoryGause YezidSayigh AviShlaim JudithE.Tucker Cambridge Middle East Studies has been established to publish books on the nineteenth-totwenty-first-centuryMiddleEastandNorthAfrica.Theaimof theseriesistoprovidenewandoriginalinterpretationsofaspectsofMiddle Easternsocietiesandtheirhistories.Toachievedisciplinarydiversity,books will be solicited from authors writing in a wide range of fields including history, sociology, anthropology, political science, and political economy. The emphasis will be on producing books offering an original approach alongtheoreticalandempiricallines.Theseriesisintendedforstudentsand academics,butthemoreaccessibleandwide-rangingstudieswillalsoappeal totheinterestedgeneralreader. Alistofbooksintheseriescanbefoundaftertheindex. Oil Wealth and the Poverty of Politics Algeria Compared Miriam R. Lowi cambridge university press Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore, SãoPaulo,Delhi,Dubai,Tokyo CambridgeUniversityPress TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress, NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521113182 ©MiriamR.Lowi2009 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2009 PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary ISBN978-0-521-11318-2Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtoin thispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis, orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. For Jazia and Ismael, with love Contents Listoftables pageviii Listoffigures ix Preface xi PartI Introduction 1 1 Oilshocksandthechallengetostates 3 2 Naturalresourcesandpoliticalinstability 27 PartII Algeriaanditsdiscontents 45 3 Fromconquesttoindependence 47 4 Theelaborationofasystem 74 5 Fromboomtobust,and…vergingonbreakdown 102 6 Thepersistenceofviolenceandtheprocessof re-equilibration 126 PartIII Comparisonsandconclusions 145 7 Variationsonatheme:comparatorsintheMuslim world 147 8 Conclusions:oilwealthandthepovertyofpolitics 177 Bibliography 192 Index 222 vii Tables 1.1 Sampleofoil-exportingstates:changestopercapita GDPfollowingpriceshock page6 1.2 ImpactofeconomicdownturnsinAlgeriaandthe comparators 19 4.1 Algeria:nethydrocarbonrentpercapita($) 86 4.2 OilrevenuesofselectOPECcountries(US$billions) 89 5.1 Algeria:evolutionofhydrocarbonrent 114 5.2 Algeria:debtserviceratio 114 5.3 Algeria:GDPgrowthrate(%) 114 5.4 Algeria:selectsocialandeconomicindicators 115 6.1 Algeria:phasesofviolence 128 7.1 Iran:economicindicators,1975–9 163 7.2 Socio-economiceffectsonIraqofwarwithIran,1980–8 169 7.3 Indonesia:economicdata,1985/6and1995/6 171 viii Figures MapofAlgeria pagexx Figure1.1 Majoreventsandrealworldoilprices,1970–2005 24 Figure7.1 OilpricesperbarrelinUSdollars,1970–2005 168 ix
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