Unit 5: Political and Economic Changes and Development

MEXICO & oil

• Oil was nationalized in 1938 under PEMEX

• recent reforms (2013) allowed some private & foreign investment—so now it’s a mixed system.

IRAN & oil

• nationalized

• Oil controlled by National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)

• key source of regime funding

NIGERIA & oil

• nationalized (w/ corruption & contracts)

• Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) controls oil, but gov’t also gives contracts to foreign firms

• Major source of revenue but mismanaged.

RUSSIA & oil

• Oil/gas sectors were privatized in the 1990s but later re-nationalized under Putin

• state now dominates the energy sector

CHINA & oil

• state-owned enterprises (SOEs)

• central to economic planning

UK & oil

• privatized

• regulatory oversight, not gov’t ownership

rentier states

• Iran, Nigeria, and Russia

• countries that obtain a sizable % of total government revenue from export of oil and gas or from leasing the resource to foreign countries

• have been able to raise standards of living & fund governmental programs based on their huge reserves