In Ecuador, to oppose resource extraction is to be an enemy of the state.
Yoani Sánchez responds to Convoy Nuestra América visiting Cuba: “Go engage in ideological tourism elsewhere.”
The Cuban journalist criticized those who visit the island to defend the government while ignoring the daily crisis faced by the population. The message comes amid the presence in Cuba of leftist activists and politicians linked to the Convoy Nuestra América. The reactions reflect a growing unease among citizens who reject the ideological exploitation of the Cuban crisis.
The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution o…
"The very notion of the domination of nature by man ste…
Venezuela: The Rise and Fall of a Petrostate
Introduction Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, is a case study in the perils of becoming a petrostate. Since it was discovered in the country in the 1920s, oil has taken Venezuela on an exhilarating but dangerous boom-and-bust ride that offers lessons for other resource-rich states. Decades of poor governance have driven what was once one of Latin America’s most prosperous countries to economic and political ruin. In recent years, Venezuela has suffered economic collapse, with output shrinking significantly and rampant hyperinflation contributing to a scarcity of basic goods, such as food and medicine. Meanwhile, government mismanagement and U.S. sanctions have led to a drastic decline in oil production and severe underinvestment in the sector. Though Washington eased some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas sector in 2023, signaling a potential détente, Caracas’s failure to meet conditions for a fair election prompted the U.S. government to reimpose sanctions in 2024. What is a petrostate? Petrostate is an informal term used to describe a country with several interrelated attributes: government income is deeply reliant on the export of oil and natural gas, economic and political power are highly concentrated in an elite minority, and political institutions are weak and unaccountable, and corruption is widespread. Countries often described as petrostates include Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. What’s behind the petrostate paradigm? Petrostates are thought to be vulnerable to what economists call Dutch disease, a term coined during the 1970s after the Netherlands discovered natural gas in the North Sea. In an afflicted country, a resource boom attracts large inflows of foreign capital, which leads to an appreciation of the local currency and a boost for imports that are now comparatively cheaper. This sucks labor and capital away from other sectors of the economy, such as agriculture and manufacturing, which economists say are more important for growth and competitiveness. As these labor-intensive export industries lag, unemployment could rise, and the country could develop an unhealthy dependence on the export of natural resources. In extreme cases, a petrostate forgoes local oil production and instead derives most of its oil wealth through high taxes on foreign drillers. Petrostate economies are then left highly vulnerable to unpredictable swings in global energy prices and capital flight. The so-called resource curse also takes a toll on governance. Since petrostates depend more on export income and less on taxes, there are often weak ties between the government and its citizens. Timing of the resource boom can exacerbate the problem. “Most petrostates became dependent on petroleum while, or immediately after, they were establishing a democracy, state institutions, an independent civil service and private sector, and rule of law,” says Terry Lynn Karl, a professor of political science at Stanford University and author of The Paradox of Plenty, a seminal book on the dynamics of petrostates. Leaders can use the country’s resource wealth to repress or co-opt political opposition. How does Venezuela fit the category? Venezuela is the archetype of a failed petrostate, experts say. Oil continues to play the dominant role in the country’s fortunes more than a century after it was discovered there. The oil price plunge from more than $100 per barrel in 2014 to under $30 per barrel in early 2016 sent Venezuela into an economic and political spiral, and despite rising prices since then, conditions remain bleak. A number of grim indicators tell the story: Oil dependence. In recent years, oil exports have financed almost two-thirds of the government’s budget. Estimates for 2024 place this figure slightly lower, at 58 percent. Falling production. Starved of adequate investment and maintenance, oil output has continued to generally decline, hitting its lowest level in decades. However, exports increased by some 12 percent in 2023, due in part to an easing of U.S. sanctions on the country’s oil and gas sector. Turbulent economy. Venezuela’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by roughly three-quarters [PDF] between 2014 and 2021. However, the economy grew by 5 percent in 2023, and the government forecasts it will reach 8 percent in 2024. Soaring debt. Venezuela has an estimated debt burden of $150 billion or higher. Hyperinflation. Annual inflation skyrocketed to just over 130,000 percent in 2018, and though it has since slowed, it remained at 190 percent in 2023, according to the central bank. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r
The Brazilianization of the World - American Affairs Journal
The West’s involution finds its mirror image in the original country of the future, the nation doomed forever to remain the country of the future, the one that never reaches its destination: Brazil. The Brazilianization of the world is our encounter with a future denied, and in which this frustration has become constitutive of our social reality. While the closing of historical horizons has often been a leftist, indeed Marxist, concern, the sense that things don’t work as they should is now widely shared across the political spectrum. Welcome to Brazil. Here the only people satisfied with their situation are financial elites and venal politicians. Everyone complains, but everyone shrugs their shoulders. This slow degradation of society is not so much a runaway train, but more of a jittery rollercoaster, occasionally holding out promise of ascent, yet never breaking free from the tracks. We always come back to where we started, shaken and disoriented, haunted by what might have been...
Ursalzona
A URSAL.zone é uma instância moderada com foco em militantes progressistas, feministas e antifascistas da América Latina.
The Pain Is the Plan
MAGA is actively seeking to immiserate the country in order to cement their power over the rest of us.
Left & Right: The Psychological Significance of a Political Distinction
This book brings together for the first time an updated, revised collection of influential essays and articles that capture some of the most exciting scientific and scholarly contributions to the topic ...
The MAGA power struggle that could decide the fate of Anthropic
It may not be easy for Anthropic to escape the Trump export ban.
Doctrine of Discovery Project
Explore the Doctrine of Discovery Project archive of legal history, papal bulls, repudiations, and resources on Indigenous sovereignty, justice, and decolonization.
Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization by …
How Control Exists after Decentralization by Galloway, …
people and governance
researching power and contestation in transnational media infrastructures
Vox, fascismo y revolución | Columna
Lo que caracteriza a algunos políticos de ultraderecha no es la melancolía por el pasado, sino su voracidad por el porvenir
Dissent
If something has a lot of very bad externalities, and just the ones we know about are visibly, obviously causing major damage to important physical, social and informational ecosystems around us, then “lots of people want it” just isn’t a compelling argument.
From Territorial to Functional Sovereignty: The Case of Amazon
Economists tend to characterize the scope of regulation as a simple matter of expanding or contracting state power. But a political economy perspective emphasizes that social relations abhor a power…
Incendies en Espagne : le Premier ministre Pedro Sánchez appelle à un « pacte d’État » sur l’urgence climatique
Un « grand pacte d’État » sur l’urgence climatique : c’est ce qu’a proposé le Premier ministre espagnol de gauche, Pedro Sánchez, à l’ensemble des acteurs politiques, et notamment au principal parti de l’opposition, le Parti populaire (PP) du libéral—conservateur Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Cette initiative vise à renforcer les moyens et à améliorer la coordination entre régions face aux catastrophes environnementales.
