Why “underdevelopment” in the Middle East? The strengths and limitations of oil, Islam,...
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Transcript of Why “underdevelopment” in the Middle East? The strengths and limitations of oil, Islam,...
Why “underdevelopment” in the Middle East?The strengths and limitations of oil, Islam, corruption and other
hypotheses
Prof. M. CammettPOLS1270
April 5, 2012
Proximate Causes
• Weak integration in the global economy
• Low private investment
• Lack of technological development
• Industrial non-competitiveness
• High costs of doing business
• Poor educational systems, underdeveloped human capital
Deeper Causes: Competing Explanations
• Oil and the “Resource Curse”
• Islam, Islamic institutions
• Colonialism
• Corruption and Crony Capitalism
• Authoritarianism
Oil and the “Resource Curse”
Resource wealth poor economic outcomes
– “Dutch Disease”
– Rentier states and non-productive economies
The Resource Curse:Critiques
• Variation in oil-rich countries(Norway v. UAE v. Indonesia v. Algeria)
• Timing of institution building vis-à-vis influx of windfall profits
• Hertog: Populism and state autonomy
Is oil wealth convincing?
Islam v. Islamic Institutions
• Islam as a religion
• Islamic institutions (not Islam per se)
Islamic waqfs, corporate forms, inheritance laws disperse wealth inhibit investment
Do Islamic institutions explain underdevelopment in the MENA?
• Direction of causation?
• De factp choice/flexibility in corporate forms
• Ottoman policies, not Islamic institutions?
• Colonial and post-colonial policies
• Variable trajectories within the Islamic world
• Trajectories in the Middle East v. non-Muslim regions of the Global South?
Colonial Governance in the MENA
• Capitulations
• Colonial domination of productive, lucrative activities
• Minimal investment in public welfare & infrastructure
• Limited indigenous control over economy, policies
• Legacies for state-building
Limitations of “blaming” colonial rulers?
Corruption & Crony Capitalism
• The logic of the argument: Why corruption is bad for development
• Is the MENA especially corrupt?
• Is corruption bad for development?
Corruption and Other Aspects of Governance in Cross-National Perspective (2008)
Control o
f Corru
ption
Govt. Effecti
veness
Rule of Law
Voice &
Accountab
ility
0102030405060708090
100
Middle EastEast AsiaLatin AmericaSouth AsiaSub-Saharan AfricaOECD
Authoritarianism and Underdevelopment in the MENA
MENA exceptionalism: “Voice & Accountability”
Logic : How might authoritarianism hinder development?
Campaign posters for Gamal MubarakEgypt, Sept. 2010
Authoritarianism & Underdevelopment?
• Mixed Evidence: – East Asia– Latin America– Russia, etc.
• Regime type v. governance