Opinion
- Editorial
Anthony
Wilson :
Oil prices eroding T&T’s democracy?
Thomas
Friedman, the New York Times columnist, is one of
my favourite writers and I consider myself to be
quite fortunate to have an autographed copy of his
latest book, The World is Flat: A brief history
of the twenty-first century.
In
the May/June edition of the US magazine Foreign
Policy, Friedman has a provocative article entitled,
“The First Law of Petropolitics” in
which he argues that there is a correlation between
the price of oil and “the pace, scope and
sustainability of political freedoms and economic
reforms in certain countries.”
Friedman
contends that “the price of oil and the pace
of freedom always move in opposite directions in
oil-rich petrolist states.”
The
columnist defines petrolist states as countries
that have weak state institutions or outright authoritarian
governments and are dependent on oil production
for the bulk of their exports or gross domestic
product.
High
on his list of petrolist states are Azerbaijan,
Angola, Chad, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Kazakstan,
Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uzbekistan
and Venezuela.
“Countries
that have a lot of crude oil but were well-established
states with solid democratic institutions and diversified
economies before their oil was discovered—Britain,
Norway and the US for example—would not be
subject to the first law of petropolitics,”
argues Friedman.
Friedman’s
first law of petropolitics is that the higher the
average price of global crude oil, “the more
free speech, free press, free and fair elections,
an independent judiciary, the rule of law and independent
political parties are eroded.”
According
to the New York Times columnist, the higher the
price of oil goes, the less leaders of petrolist
countries are sensitive to what the world thinks
or says about them.
Conversely,
the lower the price of oil falls, the more petrolist
leaders are sensitive to what outside forces think
about them.
“The
lower the price of oil, the more petrolist countries
are forced to move toward a political system and
a society that is more transparent, more sensitive
to opposition voices and more focussed on building
the legal and educational structure that will maximise
their people’s ability, both men’s and
women’s, to compete, start new companies and
attract investments from abroad,” writes Friedman.
The
reason I have taken the time to outline what Friedman
wrote is because I can guarantee that there are
people in this country who will latch on to his
analysis and come to the conclusion that it applies
to T&T.
I
can see, for example, the attorneys for the Chief
Justice contending that the Friedman thesis applies
to T&T especially as it relates to the issue
of the independence of the judiciary.
I
can see the Maha Sabha claiming that the recent
Privy Council rebuke of the Government in relation
to the failure to grant a radio licence is an example
of the PNM Government attempting to curtail press
freedoms.
Does
Friedman’s thesis apply to T&T?
Has
the pace and scope of T&T’s democratic
freedoms declined as a result of the ever-increasing
price of oil and natural gas?
As
oil in T&T was discovered in the 19th century,
can it not be argued that this country developed
solid democratic institutions and a diversified
economy after hydrocarbons were discovered?
The
answer to the questions above is certainly that
it depends on who is providing the answer.
My
own view is that there is no correlation between
oil/gas prices and democracy in T&T and if there
were, for example, the Chief Justice would have
been cooling his heals at the maximum security prison
as we speak.
The
fact that the police can be restrained by a court
order is an indication that democracy here is still
alive and kicking.
And
the fact that the State must obey the Privy Council
is an indication that the rule of law here is strong.
(More next week)
Anthony
Wilson is
Guardian
business editor . Petroleumworld not necessarily
share these views.
Editor's
Note: This commentary was published by The
Trinidad Guardian,
on
July 20th 2006, Petroleumworld reprint this article
in the interest of our readers.
All
comments posted and published on Petroleumworld,
do not reflect either for or against the opinion
expressed in the comment as an endorsement of Petroleumworld.
All comments expressed are private comments and
do not necessary reflect the view of this website.
All comments are posted and published without liability
to Petroleumworld.
Petroleumworld encourages persons to reproduce,
reprint, or broadcast Petroleumworld Editorial articles
provided that any such reproduction identify the
original source, http://www.petroleumworld.com and
it is done within the fair use as provided for in
section 107 of the US Copyright Law
Internet web links to http://www.petroleumworld.com
are appreciated.
Petroleumworld
07 23 06
Copyright
© 2006 The
Trinidad Guardian.
All rights reserved
