Will Political Change Come from Cheap Oil?

That Russia loses badly from sagging world oil prices is obvious, but so do a bunch of other countries run by thugs, autocrats, kleptocrats, theocrats, religious fundamentalists, left-wing populists and even some democrats who govern their countries poorly.

Oil has been predominantly found in undemocratic, corrupt and often unsavoury states where it has contributed if not to the “curse of oil” than at least to being a mixed blessing.