Natural resource wealth – a blessing or a curse for democracy?

The tendency of regimes, richly endowed with natural resources, to be more authoritarian than those without such resources, is a prominent feature for discussion within political theoretical literature. It is well established that resource wealth inhibits democratisation by enabling political leaders to resist pressures, which may otherwise lead to democratisation. However, this paper examines the ways in which natural resource wealth is detrimental for the prospect of democratic regime change. It explores current theory and a number of mechanisms which link natural resource wealth to authoritarianism. Oil within the African region, particularly Angola, is a major example utilised to demonstrate how resource abundance can be exploited by non-democratic ruling parties, to stay in power, and thus provides democratic reform introduction difficult. By reviewing a number of different literature sources, with a variety of perspectives, it is determined that the ‘resource curse’ and rentier state effect of natural resource wealth, is the main obstacle to democratisation.