Oil wealth often threatens democracies in many ways including free and fair elections, with incumbents lasting longer and autocratic leaders becoming more powerful as they consolidate their authority and keep civil society subservient.
This was one of the contentions of University of California Political Scientist, Professor Michael Ross who also warned that large oil companies like ExxonMobil “are not your friends”.
Delivering a virtual presentation last Tuesday on “The Resource Curse and Democracy: Lessons for Guyana,” the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) professor said that new oil producing economies like Guyana have to be wary of oil giants.
