Why do Resource Abundant Countries Have Authoritarian Governments?

This article provides a theoretical and empirical investigation of the correlation between resource wealth and authoritarianism. Building on the rentier state literature, I argue that resource wealth facilitates the consolidation of an already established authoritarian government. Resource wealth also generates a breakdown of democratic regimes due to a combination of incumbency advantage, political instability, and political repression. There is strong empirical support for the theoretical argument. Controlling for GDP, human capital, income inequality and other possible determinants, I ?nd a robust and statistically signi?cant association between resource dependence measured by the ratio of fuel and mineral exports as a percentage of total exports and authoritarianism.