Venezuelan Oil

Published date01 March 2007
Date01 March 2007
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/002070200706200106
Subject MatterArticle
Daniel Hellinger
Venezuelan oil
Free gift of nature or wealth of a nation?
| International Journal | Winter 2006-2007 | 55 |
Venezuelan oil diplomacy has long been a factor shaping the internation-
al energy regime, and domestic political conflicts in Venezuela have always
interacted synergistically with conflict over the global energy system. So it
is the case with intense domestic conflicts that have swirled around
President Hugo Chávez, the country’s controversial populist leader. Partly
at stake is whether the rules of the global oil regime will correspond to a
neoliberal framework permitting freer access to minerals and hydrocar-
bons on the part of capital, or whether national sovereignty continues to
legitimate host countries’ right to regulate access and demand compensa-
tion for exploitation of natural resources. Are the resources in a sovereign
nation’s subsoil a free gift of nature that lie worthless without the applica-
tion of labour and investment, or do they constitute exhaustible “natural
wealth” for which the nation is entitled to compensation? This question
recurs in debates over the imposition of royalty, participation in OPEC,
management of state-owned enterprises, and foreign participation in dif-
ferent phases of the industry.
Daniel C. Hellinger is professor in the department of history, politics, and law, Webster
University, St. Louis, MO, and co-editor of VenezuelanPolitics in the Chávez Era: Class,
Polarization, and Conflict (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2003).

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