Does Resource Wealth Cause Authoritarian Rule?

Middle East scholars often suggest that the region's absence of democracy is in part due to its oil wealth. This paper examines three aspects of the "oil-impedes-democracy" claim. First, is it true? Does oil have a consistently anti-democratic effect on states, once other factors -- such as the effects of income and Islamic culture -- are accounted for? Second, can this claim be generalized: it is true only in the Middle East, or elsewhere as well? Do other types of minerals, and other types of commodities, have comparable effects on governments? Finally, if oil does have anti-democratic properties, what is the causal mechanism? Using pooled time-series cross-national data from 105 states between 1971 and 1997, this paper finds that oil exports are strongly associated with authoritarian rule; that this effect is not limited to the Middle East; and that other types of mineral exports have a similar anti-democratic effect, while agricultural exports do not. It then tests three explanatio..

Michelle\u27s Lizard: Identity, relationships, and ecological status of an array of parthenogenetic Lizards (Genus Aspidoscelis: Squamata: Teiidae) in Colorado, USA

Using a shared photograph, we identified a lizard captured by a young naturalist in 1995 in La Junta, Otero County, Colorado, USA, to either triploid parthenogenetic Colorado Checkered Whiptail (Aspidoscelis neotesselata) or diploid parthenogenetic Common Checkered Whiptail (A. tesselata). On 12 August 1997, LJL located the species in question near the original La Junta location. The parthenogenetic species at La Junta represents a new pattern class, A. neotesselata D, identity and distinctiveness of which were verified by both univariate and multivariate statistics. We used other triploid lizards from sites ~100 km apart (i.e., A. neotesselata D from La Junta and A. neotesselata A from Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado) to verify skin histocompatibility, indicating that each group was derived from the same hybridization event. We also identified a tetraploid hybrid of A. neotesselata x A. sexlineata viridis from La Junta. Of the several small patches of habitat that support A. neotesselata D and Prairie Racerunner (A. sexlineata viridis) at La Junta, only a few are elevated above the flood zone of the adjacent Arkansas River. An unusual characteristic of flat parts of La Junta involves the life cycle of Kochia (Kochia scoparia). This tall-growing annual constitutes ~100% of the vegetative structure on these flats from germination in the spring until die-off in the fall/winter. Searches to increase the known range of A. neotesselata D beyond 1 km of La Junta were unsuccessful. We regard the La Junta array of A. neotesselata D as a naturally occurring peripheral isolate. © 2012. James M. Walker. All Rights Reserved