History Of Venezuela s Political Economy - 1695 Words

Now for the role of petroleum in Ecuador’s political economy. The EIA report on Ecuador, edited in March of this year, indicates that â€Å"resource nationalism and debates about the economic, strategic, and environmental implications of oil sector development are prominent issues in the politics of Ecuador and the policies of its government.† It is fair to say that Ecuador should be categorized as a petrol centric state, especially given that said resource nationalism is an ideology enduring from the 1970’s (Kimerling 419). Aside from the obvious environmental externality of carbon dioxide emissions, what more reason could there be for deliberation on the issue? A Bloomberg article from August of this year gives good insight: â€Å"Ecuador has†¦show more content†¦Ecuador has been a member of OPEC since 1973, with a break between 1994 and 2007. Its resource nationalism ideology is tied to this notion of oil salvation that seems to portray OPEC as its m etaphorical Jesus, if heaven is modernization. But this has not been the case. This is not to say that OPEC disturbed their potential to use petroleum to propel themselves into modernity. OPEC is more of a symptom than a cause. Inherently, in a relatively unstable political region such as South America, there are issues with governmental integrity, as we have already seen with Ecuador’s trade barrier stunts. I want to argue that OPEC is a symptom of the Dutch Disease. Much like the Keystone XL pipeline would fix the United States and Canada on dirty fossil fuels for years to come (Natural Resource Defense Council), OPEC offers developing countries an infrastructure with similar effects. Given that its creation occurred well before today’s urgency of climate change, OPEC embodies the saying â€Å"the road to hell is paved with good intentions.† The easy avenue created by being part of OPEC drew members to invest heavily into their petroleum industries and almost nothing else. As a result we now have several countries hemorrhaging economically, with little option but to turn to OPEC for help. And what will OPEC do? They have already proclaimed inaction is the route to go right now