Oil Growth and Democracy in the Global North

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Name
Course
Instructor
Date
Oil Growth and Democracy in America and the United Kingdom
Introduction
Many concepts of democracy do not cover the relationship between democracy and oil.
Oil played a major role in shaping the democracy of many countries during the twentieth
century, including America and the UK. Timothy Michelle’s thesis explains the development of
oil from the identification, to the production, the refining, up to the conversion into various
petroleum products (Mitchell, 6). The countries which largely depend on oil for revenue
generation are less democratic than the countries without oil, generally termed as the oil curse.
Politics are majorly controlled by the largest revenue generator in a state, and for some countries
the revenue generator is oil. Subsequently, the economy determines the state of the democracy.
This article evaluates the logic Timothy’s thesis and weather the thesis is convincing(Mitchell, 9-
11).
Carbon democracy, as referred to by Timothy, is the kind of democracy that is
determined by politics influence by oil economy. Assuming the properties of oil is a reflection of
an underlying inception of democracy. The failure to follow the genesis and development of oil
results to the oil curse in most countries. The curse is caused by the failure to follow oil’s
development and lack of attention of diagnosis of the curse(Mitchell, 12). The solution is
eliminating the symptoms that producer states have. Most successful nations have oil as a major
product, which has played a key role in shaping the economy and the politics of these nations.
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Logic behind Timothy’s Thesis
Oil takes a whole process of transformation to become the viable source of energy it is
converted to. The transformation the oil takes requires connection which do not take into account
the democratic factors that exist; power, politics, economic divide, human or natural resources.
Such connections makes it possible for the oil to the fossil fuel to be converted into other forms.
The relationship between oil and democracy is that both requires connections to be built, the
opportunities created, and he rare cases where control takes effect. Mass democracy and fossil
fuels have both been discovered in the recent years, and are connected in four ways.
The first way is that in the late 19
th
century, mass politics emerged as a result of the
impact of fossil fuel development, in conjunction with other valuable resources. Energy for many
years was derived from the sun and converted into food in plants through photosynthesis. Solar
energy is renewable but is very weak. The identification of the fossil fuel came across in the mid-
twentieth century, which replaced the use of solar energy. The oil, however, is predicted to be
depleted in approximately one hundred years. A little fuel was required to run about machines
and other activities that required fuel, and when compared to the stored carbon in plant, very
little was needed. There was need to develop cities and urban places, but for hat to happen, there
needed to be an agrarian revolution; Europe invaded other territories to have space to grow
plants which would boost its economy (Aslaksen, 421-431).
Secondly, fossil fuel had a much higher concentration of carbon than timber. Although
coal was located in few locations, most countries were able to develop the channels through
which the coal would run and be available in various cities for processing. The channels, were
run by steam heating, which later came to be replaced the energy derived from coal. Fossil fuel
created a great deal of employment, but the coal miners seemed to be enjoying the privacy and
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autonomy of being isolated. This is because, coal mining happens underground and the managers
could not get under the rocks to supervise the miners. Thus, very little was known regarding the
details of mining process, where the miners exploited this opportunity to their favor. The mining
workforce was very diverse, but it developed a militancy to protect the workers from harsh
working conditions, longer working hours, or a less pay. The movements would organize strikes
to threaten the leaders not to interfere with their autonomy. Such is a symbol of democracy as
their wishes would be protected. The owners of the large fuel-based companies had to exercise
democracy since they needed the role of the miners in the production sector.
The emergence of mass democracy
Timothy Mitchell uses the carbon democracy to explain the rise of a democratic world.
The rise of coal was a new rise to a source of energy that was to bring disruptions in countries
that produced it, especially the Middle East. For the first time, the west became vulnerable to the
public demand of mass democracy. During the mid-twentieth century, the production of cheap
oil productions especially from the Middle East created a channel to evade submission to the
mass democracy. Oil revenue gives the government the opportunity to relieve itself off the
pressure of the public. Oil made it possible for the politicians to manage the economy. Residents
in oil-based states developed a livelihood that was highly dependent on the fossil fuel, but the
government was not able to evaluate how the oil would end.
In the twenty first century, the oil-based modern democratic politics are unsustainable.
There are a lot of interventions underway, trying to explain the end of the carbon democracy, that
is, the depletion of cheap fossil fuel. In explaining the role of carbon fuel in democracy, carbon
democracy goes back to the origin of fossil fuel, politics, and the theory of democracy. Mitchell
also explains the position of the Middle East as one of the world’s largest oil producer. For many
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years, the oil-producing companies have had the notion that oil is a continuous supplier of
wealth, and thus their economies are meant to be stable as long as oil is produced. However, the
oil was predicted to end one hundred years after the onset of its mining. Thus by 2050, there
could be n more carbon fuel available, and thus the fall of the carbon democracy (Bridge, 565-
576).
Mass democracy in America
Mass democracy is the situation where the people have control over the leaders who are
voted for. The rise of mass democracy in the US started in the 19
th
century during the Jackson
era who he took over the presidency and was in the seat for the next twelve terms. That was more
than all the years of the previous presidents combined. Mass democracy is where the public has a
direct participation in matters to do with electoral positions and policy making. Unlike what we
have today, where most states have the legislature that entails the process of making law and
policies, the mass democracy had the public taking part in the processes (Ramey, 333-368).
Mass democracy is risky in the sense that the public to not know the complexity involved
in that matters they are to decide on. The media sways the opinion of the people, and they end up
making the wrong choices. The rise of industrial movements during the oil regime led to the rise
in mass democracy; the people had the autonomous power to make laws. However, critiques say
people cannot rule themselves as they will always be in inadequacy on what is required for the
process thus being swayed by various forces(Ramey, 333-368).
After the end of World War Two, the miners were again at the front line threatening the
democratic politics. The US planners, on the other hand came up with a technique to beat the
miners in the protest game. The plan was to change the energy system from being coal
dependent, to being oil-dependent (Hughes, 225-234). With the new change, workers were able
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to acquire new forms of power. However, a new challenge developed. Oil required less technical
workforce in the way it is produced. The miners remain on the surface of the mining area under a
strict supervision of the managers. The oil is pumped up by the water below or the air above it so
the workers do not need to get to the underground. Oil is a liquid form; the railway carriage were
therefore replaced with pipelines which transported the oil to the location of use, or exported it
abroad.
The US government pressured the Lebanon government to put pressure on the oil
companies to exempt from the local labor laws. This was followed by a series of strikes by the
workers protesting for their rights. The demands of US were not met which led her to use
temporary employees when the pipelines took effect. There were similar civil strikes happening
across the Middle East in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. The CIA were mostly used to impose a
rule that was convenient to the ruling party. The construction of the energy networks created a
post-war crisis, with the colonizers wanting to have control, but the workers took it to the streets
with strikes demanding for their rights. The new form of oil generation was a channel to creating
a new form of democracy. He oil centers were later to create a very center of political struggles,
but were able to build democratic orders.
The transportation of oil by sea using pipelines, eliminated a large workforce at the
railway section, and who played an important role in mobilizing the workers movements. The
inception of oil created flexibility in that there was no more need to gauge and load the rail tanks,
rather, tanks would leave the pot and head out without a specific destination, and that was later
determined by the amount of oil demanded per region. The flexibility, however, came with
challenges; the result of the first most traumatizing oil spill, the Torrey Canyon disaster. The
spill led to the emergence of the environmental movement, which later became a threat to the
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energy industry. The environmentalists claimed that the carbon fuel was a source of air pollution,
and at present, the ozone layer is depleted and a lot of global warming is happening due to the
accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere. The movement also made the energy sector to make
changes in the way oil was extracted, transported and utilized making the sector vulnerable to the
political demands of the laborers (Hughes, 225-234).
The oil sector faced completion at the oceanic level. The world wars shaped the way in
which oil was transported. US was the major producer in the world, and other small producing
companies needed to get into the limelight. There was the establishment of price controls in
America as a mechanism to compete for the same global market. The other mechanism came
after World War Two, where the Middle Eastern countries merged to make the abundant oil to
be of a limited supply. The first mechanism that was to be used was the national security;
America was given the chance to reduce its supply of oil in the Middle East. The other
mechanism was the creation of lifestyles that demanded large consumption of oil. The American
vehicle companies replaced the six-cylinder engine with the V8s engine. The Americans were
therefore in a large consumption set up. When that was combined with the new political
organization in the Middle East, then the oil companies were able to maintain the scarcity of oil.
Oil culture is the various representations that oil has taken since the discovery of oil in
the US. The analysis explores the methods used in the shaping the role of oil in the modern
world. Oil is viewed as the basic commodity that shapes the economy of a state where it is
produced. Oil has a great influence in the social lives of most American. Oil is used in fueling
cars, a basic component in most American families today. The political health of The Sates is
also greatly affected by the role of oil in the country. America being the largest consumer in the
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world, has sought channels of importation of oil especially from the Middle East (Barrett, Ross,
& Daniel; 269-272).
The construction of a pipeline from Saudi Arabia to the Mediterranean posted a political
threat to America. The Trans-Arabian Pipeline Company opted not to cross the pipeline through
Britain at Haifa to avoid political confrontation. The pipelines was rerouted through Syria. When
Syria refused to agree to the terms of the oil company, the oil companies organized that the CIA
to remove the president in power and replace with a more flexible one. Such events as this one
engineered the relationship between oil and democracy.
Mass democracy in Britain
Mass democracy is being exercised in the UKsince the early nineteenth century to date. It
is as a result of mass democracy that Brexit came to happen. The media swayed the British
citizens into baseless phobia of some components of the Brexit, making the parliament to sign
one of the most painful policies in history, of the UK getting out of the EU. Before Brexit
however things were different. The fossil fuel sector had experienced financing from the local
and international financial institution. On average, the UK receives eighty two million dollars,
mostly from Scotland. By 2013, UK has been funded 3.3 billion dollars by the Royal Bank of
Scotland which is owned by the government. Most of the funding targets the exploration
segment. With about a quarter of the money going to the development sector. This has greatly
reduced the production cost of oil and thus resulting in low retailing prices(Merriman & Peter,
586-599).
In the North Sea, shale has shown great interest in the exploration and production
especially in the deep waters offshore drilling companies. Major companies have joined the UK
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economy for example the Cuadrilla Resources which joined the shale oil industry. The growth of
the oil sector in Britain is as a result of mass democracy.
With the development in the energy sector, the movements had developed from the
miners to other sectors; wells, pipelines, refining companies, and shipping lanes in the Middle
East. Iraq, which is a protectorate of the UK, organized a series of workers and students strikes
demanding for freedom from the reoccupation of the UK, and for quality lifestyle for the
citizens. The railways were the most crucial sectors of the entire system. All the repair and
maintenance were done at the railways. The storage of the oil barrels were kept at the petrol
station. Majority of the workers were at the petrol stations and if a petition would arise, then the
workers posed a great deal of a threat to the rulers.
The world is reliant on oil, and unless other alternatives are sought, then the world will be
at a trance one day after the fuel has depleted. As time goes by, the supply of oil will decrease
and the prices will rise as a result of shortage of supply. Other alternatives need to be sought by
that time, like in the case of the UK (Merriman & Peter, 586-599). Electricity is another form of
renewable energy which is generated using water, geothermal, wind, or solar. However,
electricity is quite expensive to produce hence quite expensive to purchase, but it is a good and
reliable alternative. Wind and solar energy are not reliable as they produce very little energy, and
are also not available in some locations (Chapman, 93-101).A major factor that may have led the
UK to take action regarding the use of petroleum products in the peak oil narrative.
The peak oil is that point when the production of oil will reach maximum, and then start
declining. King Hubert, who developed this narrative, claims that the oil production follows a
bell curve. The production increases gradually, then after reaching the maximum point, it will
then decline gradually. The narrative was developed based on the fact that oil is a non-renewable
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resource which takes millions of years to form. At some point, the oil will be depleted and the
human race will have to have alternate oil sources. King predicted that the peak for US would
happen during the mid-twentieth century, and it did happen. In 1960, America reached an
average of 9.6 million barrels per day, which was her maximum score; since then, the production
has been declining gradually with time.
Peal oil is different from oil depletion. Peak oil is that day when the production reaches
maximum, after which there is gradual decline (Chapman, 93-101). Oil depletion on the other
hand, is the exhaustion of oil in that there is no more to mine. Oil is a very reliable source of
energy across the world; industries, transportation and homes, but it has its own implications.
Drilling fossil fuel is very risky. Most drilling occurs offshore, which is far from the human
settlement and urban developments. In the case of fire or an explosion, the miners can be at risk
since there is no nearby help. They can suffer from death, burns or inhalation of the gases. Such
events would affect even the surrounding aquatic animals and plants.
The demand for oil in the UK will continue to rise with the rise in human population. The
supply for oil, on the other hand will continue to fall. Ever since the oil peak was predicted,
people have been guessing on when it will actually happen so that they can store oil for their
future use after depletion. With the increase in demand, there will be a rise in the price of oil, and
subsequently the economy will be affected (Jarvis & Andrew, 722-729).
Most countries have a very economy stiff economy to manage. Most of the cases the
government is not able to subsidize fuel for all the residents, and neither are the residents able to
support their own fuel at high prices. After the oil peak, the countries dependent on oil such as
the UK will suffer the most since they will not be in a position to raise enough fuel to sustain the
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countries(Jarvis & Andrew, 722-729). That way, there will be shortage of debt, and a fall in the
economic level.
The years following the peak oil will see all the industries in the oil sectors; production,
transportation and refinery will have to come to a closure. The implication is that people will
lose their jobs, and big investment will have to be closed down. Equipment such as drilling
machines, transportation vehicles and refineries will have to be put aside and may not be used
again. However, some of these materials can be recycled for other uses. The oil market is very
big, especially for the largest oil producers such as the OPEC nations. When he oil finally gets
down, many countries will have lost a major source of revenue, or even worse, become poor.
The depletion of oil will not mean the end of the world, life would still move on. There
are other fuel sources such as biogas, solar, wind, and electricity which are still being weighed. A
country like the UK has its strategy in place already, as it plan to ban all oil-engine cars and
replace that with electricity. Petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned in UK by 2040, which
means car manufacturers will not sell cars with combustions engines after the deadline. UK has
over 45 million driving license holders, but not all can afford the electric. However, Tesla
Company has sold a few affordable cars in the past few years. The car production sector has
enough time to shift its manufacturing into electric engines. The government has also put in
place mechanisms to ensure that the cars are affordable. There will be no permanent burn on
petrol and diesel by 2040, because only car selling companies will not sell any more but any car
owner will have the right to utilize their cars as long as they want (Huber, 295-312).
The oil peak is not a myth. People have the notion that fracking of shale deposits is the
new dawn for the energy sector. The energy sectors has been undergoing investigations making
it receive a wider prospect. The US recently increased its oil production for the first time since
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1970, but this is the salient point. The shale oil is commercially available because the declining
oils will result to rise in prices. In order to sustain the current demand, statistics show that three
million barrels more have to be produced every year. That is the same as multiplying the supply
of Saudi Arabia by three. The principle component of shale rock is gases such as methane and
propane, whereas oil was made up of most carbon.
Shale has produced an incredible amount of gas in the US but that is not a guarantee in
the other countries such as UK since the geography differs (Dunn et al., 1411-1428). The Poland
shale estimate has been revised to 14% of the original estimate. Shale is not a simple
replacement of petroleum as it contains gas. Having to convert auto mobiles to run as gas
engines is another economic burden all together (Zimmerer&Karl, 115-129). Renewable
resources are not very reliable, and cannot replace the position of oil across the world. The UK
converting all the automobiles into electric-powered cars is very costly to the state and the
citizens, since electric engines are quite expensive (Merriman & Peter, 586-599). It can be very
uncertain, but it is clear that there will be no more cheap oils, and the phase the human race is
about to enter is a whole new energy experience.
Problems of relying on Oil as a the main source of fuel
Fossil fuel is formed from dead organic matter which are made up of carbon as a main
constituent. When the oil burns, the carbon reacts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide gas which
is released to the atmosphere. Since oil has been the most used source of energy for the last 150
years, the carbon being released is a lot. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which means it
causes global warming. Global warming is the trapping of the reflected infrared rays by
atmospheric particles causing a rise in the global temperature. The change in temperature has led
to climatic change and most significantly, the depletion of the ozone layers.
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Oil is a liquid and thus prone to spillage. The pipelines that transport oil are very long and
are sometimes not monitored. Oil spillage occurs in various ways; through the water ways, tanks
falling, or in the drilling process. When the oil spills, it gets to the soil, and affects the small
organisms in the soil. After sometimes, the chemical components in the soil gets absorbed into
plants by the roots, and subsequently to the human body through food. If the spillage occurs in
water bodies, the aquatic plants will be affected.
Conclusion
Oil have played a major role in shaping the world’s democracy and economy. The
inception of oil in the mid-9
th
century bore a whole new era of mass democracy in the Northern
globe. There has been a lot of development in the social, economic and political settings of
states. Oil producers are less democratic nations as the oil plays a major role in the resource
allocation, distribution of income, and in setting international relations (Love, et al., 6-16). The
major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, America, and Nigeria are working hard to ensure they
maintain the autonomy of their position. Fossil fuel is a non-renewable resource and when the
peak oil happens, there will be a great revolutions across the world. The producers will have an
economic decline, while the consumers seek alternate source of energy. The implication will also
result in a cleaner and healthier environment as carbon is the largest air pollutant.
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Works cited
Aslaksen, Silje. "Oil and democracy: More than a cross-country correlation?." Journal of Peace
Research 47.4 (2010): 421-431.
Barrett, Ross, and Daniel Worden. "Oil culture: guest editors' introduction." Journal of American
Studies 46.2 (2012): 269-272.
Becker, Uwe, and Alexandra Vasileva. "America's oil economy re-conceptualized: A changing
hybrid of liberalism, statism and patrimonialism." Journal of Eurasian studies 8.1 (2017):
83-96.
Bridge, Gavin, and Andrew Wood. "Less is more: Spectres of scarcity and the politics of
resource access in the upstream oil sector." Geoforum 41.4 (2010): 565-576.
Chapman, Ian. "The end of Peak Oil? Why this topic is still relevant despite recent
denials." Energy Policy 64 (2014): 93-101.
Dunn, David Hastings, and Mark JL McClelland. "Shale gas and the revival of American power:
debunking decline?" International Affairs 89.6 (2013): 1411-1428.
Huber, Matthew. "Refined politics: Petroleum products, neoliberalism, and the ecology of
entrepreneurial life." Journal of American Studies 46.2 (2012): 295-312.
Hughes, Larry, and Jacinda Rudolph. "Future world oil production in the UK: growth, plateau, or
peak?”Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 3.4 (2011): 225-234.
Love, Thomas, and Cindy Isenhour. "Energy and economy: Recognizing highenergy modernity
as a historical period." Economic Anthropology 3.1 (2016): 6-16.
Jarvis, Andrew. "Energy Returns and The Long-run Growth of Global Industrial
Society." Ecological Economics 146 (2018): 722-729.
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Jouvet, Pierre-André, and Frédéric Lantz. "Long-Term Endogenous Economic Growth and
Energy Transitions." Energy Journal 39.1 (2018).
Marriott, James, and Mika Minio-Paluello. "The political and material landscape of European
energy distribution: Tracking the oil road in the UK." Theory, Culture & Society 31.5
(2014): 83-101.
Merriman, Peter. "Auto mobility and the geographies of the car." Geography Compass 3.2
(2009): 586-599.
Mitchell, Timothy. "Carbon democracy." Economy and Society38.3 (2009): 399-432.
Ramey, Valerie A., and Daniel J. Vine. "Oil, automobiles, and the UK economy: How much
have things really changed?." NBER Macroeconomics Annual 25.1 (2011): 333-368.
Turner, Graham M. "On the cusp of global collapse? Updated comparison of The Limits to
Growth with historical data." GAIA-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 21.2
(2012): 116-124.
Zimmerer, Karl S. "New geographies of energy: Introduction to the special issue." Annals of the
Association of American Geographers 101.4 (2011): 705-711.

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