Religion and Politics in Kenya

pull' and Dutch disease effects of oil wealth tend to reduce the possibilities for female employment in these sectors, with negative societal consequences.Ross is not 'ideological' about the impacts of oil.He notes that sometimes autocracies are better placed to manage oil revenues than democracies, which may be subject to pressures to maximize rates of extraction in the short term.He also notes that privatization is not the panacea for the ailments of the sector that it is sometimes held up to be.This, then, is an important and well-written book, which contains many valuable insights into the impacts of oil on national development.However, the strengths of the book are also in some sense its weaknesses.The fact that much of the analysis takes place at a high level of resolution, given the use of extensive panel data (multidimensional longitudinal data sets), means that some of the local context and specificities are lost.For example, in examining the nature of democratization Ross adopts strict criteria, such as that there must have been a transfer of power from one party to another.As the Botswana Democratic Party has been in power since independence it is consequently classed as an autocracy, along with many other regimes in Africa more deserving of the designation.In another example, in exploring alternatives for oil revenue management Ross lauds Angola's policy of getting oil-denominated loans from foreign financiers.In this case the loan is repaid with a set number of barrels of oil, meaning it is repaid faster when the oil price is higher.This represents a form of macro-economic smoothing or counter-cyclical policy.However, despite rapid economic growth in Angola in recent years it still has one of the world's worst infant mortality rates.This is not unrelated to the billions of dollars of oil revenue 'evaporated' by the country's political elite over the years, and, consequently, lauding its economic management seems somewhat misplaced.This, in turn, speaks to a broader issue raised by the book, which is to do with a philosophical position that varies at times, for this reader at least, between determinism and voluntarism.At times we are told that oil causes or explains certain phenomena, whereas at other times Ross posits that governments 'should' do certain things to better manage their oil revenues, without necessarily examining the incentives to adopt such policy actions.It could be argued that, depending on the local context, there is no necessary contradiction between these arguments, but it is a tension that runs through the book.Nonetheless this an interesting, important, and worthwhile volume.

Honor · Political science · Politics · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Sociopolitical Dynamics in Nigeria · Religious studies

• Ambivalent Belonging

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• Postlude

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