Speaker: Prof. Jeff Colgan, American University
Date: Tuesday 12 February 2013
Time: 6-8 pm
Location: Clement House, room 4.02
Chair: Guy Michaels, Department of Economics
Why are some but not all oil-exporting “petrostates” aggressive in international affairs? Petro-aggression is the idea that under certain conditions, oil income enables political leaders to eliminate political constraints, reduce domestic accountability, and take their countries to war. Petro-aggression thus extends the idea of the resource curse into the realm of international relations. The new theory suggests that oil creates incentives that increase a petrostate’s aggression, but also incentives for the opposite. The net effect depends critically on its domestic politics, and revolutionary leaders are especially significant. Petro-revolutionary governments constitute a special threat to international peace and security. The evidence reveals that petrostates led by revolutionary leaders are dramatically more aggressive and instigate more international conflict than other kinds of states, even compared to non-petrostates that are led by revolutionary leaders. In short, the combination of oil and revolutionary governments is explosive.
Speaker biography
Dr. Jeff Colgan is Assistant Professor at the School of International Service at American University in Washington DC, on leave in 2012-13 as a Residential Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He completed his PhD at Princeton University, a Master’s at the University of California-Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s (in nuclear engineering) at McMaster University. His research specializes on oil and international politics. He is author of two books and more than a dozen articles. His article on global oil politics in International Organization won the 2010 Robert O. Keohane award for the best article published by an untenured scholar. His work is published or forthcoming in other journals such as World Politics, Journal of Peace Research, Review of International Organizations, and Foreign Policy.