Respond to the student’s post below. Try to provide constructive suggestions for

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Respond to the student’s post below.
Try to provide constructive suggestions for any questions that the author might need to consider or indicate points made by the author that you think are particularly important/relevant.
Link to Michael Ross video:

Student Post:
A country’s status as an oil producer is less important than what percentage of that country’s income is from oil in determining the probability that it will become a democracy. Good examples of this are the United States and Canada. They are two of the top five oil-producing countries in the world, contributing 14.5% and 5.8% of the world’s oil in 2021, respectively. Yet despite the excessive amount of oil they produce, democracy has remained steady in both. Counter the examples of the United States in Canada with states like Saudi Arabia and Iraq, which rely on oil for most of their exports and gross domestic product (GDP). These states rely almost solely on natural resources to fuel their economy. They have both been historically dictatorial, with Iraq attempting the democratic process with strong U.S. backing and pressure. Due to its vast amount of oil, Saudi Arabia is the 14th most prosperous country in the world. According to the theory of modernization, it should be highly likely that Saudi Arabia will become democratic. Why is it then that Saudi Arabia is one of the lowest-ranked countries in the world by Freedom House? This seems to flip modernization theory onto its head. A variant of modernization theory addresses this through exploring the political resource curse, or what Michael Ross calls “the oil curse” in his book.
The textbook demonstrates this concept by exploring the oil curse using the exit voice loyalty game from the first week of the course. The EVL game illustrates that reliance on natural resources stifles the populace’s ability to find an exit strategy, making it so that the government does not need to rely on them for wealth and thus ignore their desires. Because natural resources are not mobile assets, the government can better control and exploit them even when owned by private entities. So, Saudi Arabia, despite its overwhelming wealth, is governed by those who experience little pressure to cede power to its people. Even without their people’s consent, their government can continue funding its hold on power. Again, contrast this with the United States, where most of its GDP comes from professional services and manufacturing. Because those assets are very mobile, the government cannot as easily exploit them lest they choose to exit. This helps sustain democracy in the United States because the government needs to provide some incentive for choosing to stay. It is clear then that the oil curse is effective at stifling the growth of democracy in countries that are overly reliant on natural resources.

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