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Security and Conflict / Working Paper

Energy: a reinforced obstacle to democracy?

30/07/2008 By Richard Youngs

Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images

Rising oil and gas prices appear to have helped shore up autocratic producer states across the world. They also seem to have led Western states to dilute their support for democratic reforms in these countries. But while this conventional wisdom correctly restates the problematic relationship between energy and democracy, the overall picture is more complex.

This paper reveals that the opaque management of increased oil and gas revenues has sparked pressure for governance reforms from within producer states and has also encouraged new international initiatives linking energy security with good governance.

 

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Keywords

Authoritarian regimes Democracy Democracy promotion Energy Security Energy Supply Governance

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Bio author: Richard Youngs

Richard Youngs is Director General of FRIDE. He also lectures at the University of Warwick in the UK. He studied at Cambridge (BA Hons) and Warwick (MA, PhD) universities.