Oil, Arms, and Corruption: A Poisonous Nexus?

Jun 14, 2015 | Sam Perlo-Freeman
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While world military spending has fallen slightly in recent years, some regions, notably Africa and the Middle East, have seen continuing rapid increases. When SIPRI published its annual military expenditure data for 2014 this April, it featured a list of the 20 countries with ‘military burdens’ – the share of military expenditure in GDP – above 4%. This compares with only 13 in 2005.

There are three features that are notable of these countries. First, not surprisingly, many (14) were either in conflict or had a recent history of armed conflict. Second, only 3 of the 20 were functioning democracies. The third feature was oil: 13 of the 20 countries, and all of the top seven (Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Chad, Libya, the Republic of Congo, and Algeria) are major oil producers.