Overview

The creation of oil rents in the 1970s put Algeria, Iraq, and Libya on the fast track to modernization. Massive revenues turned Algeria into the Mediterranean dragon, Libya into an emirate, and Iraq into the preeminent rising military power of the Arab world. From a political perspective, the progressive socialism of these countries would seem to have engendered profound, promising change: increased rights for women, positive urbanization, and improved education. Yet the realities of oil wealth are beyond disillusioning. The international community now wonders whether reform can ever penetrate such nations and if the West will ever enjoy secure access to gas and oil. Offering the first global evaluation of these issues, Luis Martinez considers the nature of oil-sponsored violence in Algeria, Iraq, and Libya and its ability both to weaken and bolster their respective regimes.

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9780231703024

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Reviews

Amid the uncertainty and upheaval unleashed by the events that have come to be described as the Arab Spring, it is important not to lose sight of the structures underlying the economic, political and social failures that have led to these events and continue to threaten the sustainability of many states in the MENA region. Martinez's book provides a refreshing analysis of the debilitating role that hydrocarbon rent has played in three major MENA oil and gas producing countries that have in the past twenty years gone through different forms and phases of instability. By grouping Algeria, Libya and Iraq together, his study draws useful contrasts for understanding the nuances of political violence, authoritarianism and failed state building -- all key features of the transition currently underway in the region. -- Dr Hakim Darbouche, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

Author Information

Luis Martinez is a senior research fellow at CERI/Sciences Po in Paris. He has been a visiting professor at Columbia University and at the University of Montreal. A political scientist and specialist on the Maghreb and the Middle East, his books include The Algerian Civil War: 1990--1998, The Libyan Paradox, and, coedited with Amelie Blom and Laetitia Bucaille, The Enigma of Islamist Violence.

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