To the Editor:
Re “The
Curse of Plenty” (Week in Review, June 20):
The discovery of vast mineral deposits in Afghanistan is far from good
news for the people of Afghanistan. In addition to the challenges of
extraction, security and economic stability, the Afghan people have to
look forward to even more government corruption if the minerals under
their feet are ever tapped.
There is a link between rich natural resources and poor democratic
governance. Strong democracies are built on a strong middle class, but
natural resources tend to stratify an economy into lower-class laborers
and upper-class owners. The exploitation industry does not have many
positions for skilled and well-paid workers who would fill the middle
class.
In an economy based on natural resources, the wealth—and power—accrues to a small group who can push around politicians without
reprisal from the hordes of impoverished workers. We can see this in
Russia, where oil and gas barons gain special privileges from the
Putinocracy as long as they adhere to the correct political alignments.
Whatever the laws of a state, democracy will struggle when wealthy
elites and government officials are cemented together in this
self-supporting arrangement. And in Russia as elsewhere, the glue is
made of natural resources.
Jonathan D. Hughes
Augusta, Ga., June 22, 2010
Note from KBJ: The letter writer prefers equal misery to unequal prosperity.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 