Part 1
Introduction
As revealed in this column series thus far, in early 2020, extractivist and neoextractivist-oriented interpretations of the series of prolific oil reservoirs discovered offshore Guyana have already yielded the transformative notion of Guyana as a rapidly emerging Petrostate. The vigilance exhibited in this analytical adaptation has been by any measure striking.
I believe this notable achievement has been matched in an equally speedy recognition of Guyana’s potential for transformation in neoliberal schools of thought and policy prescription. I offer as evidence of this two works; namely, the IADB 2020 study [Traversing a Slippery Slope, Guyana’s Oil Opportunity] and the World Bank staff’s 2020 work [A Pivotal Moment, Guyana’s Oil Opportunity, Systematic Country Diagnostic] as examples. I have already reviewed the IADB work at some length during 2020 and 2021. Today I start a review of the World Bank work.
