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Norway: Home of the corrupt

Since I'm doing mostly school work these days, i'm posting some work that I just started on Norway and corruption. Kinda frustrating sitting inside writing papers on my computer while mass battles between copts muslims are going on around Cairo.

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/431159

Anyways, here's some stuff on corruption and Norway:

Rentier theory tells us that countries with oil and natural resources are prone to authoritarian features. Taking a brief look at the correlation between oil and minerals as a portion of national economies and democracy will lead us to support this notion. Ross’ study from 2001 deals with 113 countries and reaches the conclusion that there is an inverse relationship between rent and democracy; where rent constitutes a small, but significant portion of the economy, regimes will be most authoritarian, while countries with a larger rent-economies will be a little less so.
Norway then, must be the exception that confirms the rule. Pumping up about 3.400 barrels of oil from the North Sea daily, external rent constitutes nearly half of exports and over 30% of state revenue. Norway has top score on the freedom house scales for political and civil rights, as well as a +10 polity score, ranging from -10 to +10. It is also frequently considered by the UN to be the generally best place to live in the world.
In 2003 a corruption scandal shook the Norwegian national oil company, Statoil. During its operations in Iran, it had paid vast sums the son of the ex-president for dubious services. Later investigations revealed that Hydro, another Norwegian oil company, had been involved in a similar case in Libya. Both cases were brought into daylight due to critical journalism. Since then more attention has been given to the problem of corruption on Norway.
But hold on for just a minute. If the corruption in the Norwegian oil companies primarily occurs on countries that are generally considered corrupt, such as Iran and Libya, would it not be natural to assume that the corruption happens on the initiative of actors from those countries, and not the Norwegian representatives? I think it is reasonable to assume that the Norwegian oil companies are accomplices in the conduct of the crime until proven otherwise. After all, Statoil was sentenced by courts in both the United States and Norway to pay fines of 70 million NOK and 20 million NOK respectively. Further critical journalism also revealed that oil companies generally discourage Norwegian diplomats from talking about corruption. Even if this might serve short term Norwegian economical interest, a continuation of a “don’t ask don’t tell policy” would be harmful both to Norwegian attitudes against corruption in the future and the focus of the Norwegian foreign ministry.
The last decade has seen the publication of many books about national corruption, including the titles “Political corruption as a democratic problem” and “Corruption in Norway”, both finding the trail of corruption to lead partly back to the oil industry. The first mentioned alleges that there are strong ties from the top of the oil companies to political circles.
A necessary precaution to make when addressing corruption as an effect of rent is to consider the fact that the states we generally consider rentier states in the Middle East seem to be spread out along Transparency’s corruption perceptions index. This means that we cannot generally associate corruption with rentier states. However, when one looks closely enough at what is generally is considered rentier-economies the paths leading to authoritarianism and flawed governance are case-dependent. In Saudi-Arabia the national oil company has a strict anti-corruption policy, but the regime has a long history of repression and autocratic rule.
To see if oil might harm Norwegian governance, the Scandinavian context might be more useful, as they offer an opportunity for a similar-system design. The following table gives an overview over corruption perceptions in Scandinavia and the Middle East oil countries:

Corruption perceptions Index
Ranking Score
Nordic countries
Denmark 1 9,3
Finland 4 9,2
Sweden 4 9,2
Norway 10 8,6
Iceland 11 8,5

Middle East oil countries
Qatar 19 7,7
UAE 28 6,3
Bahrain 48 4,9
Saudi Arabia 50 4,7
Kuwait 54 4,5
Iran 146 2,2
Iraq 175 1,5

Control Countries
USA 22 7,1
Egypt 98 3,1

Transparancy International CPI for 2010

I går var jeg på Cuba, jeg bare nevner det:P

Catching up with Emadh

Months have gone since I last saw the first Egyptian that I ever had an extended conversation with. I have been prevented from seeing him partly because we always miss each other’s calls and partly because life has been busy, at least for me. Emadh has not been so busy. He lost his job at the bakery during the revolution, and the tourists, his main income source, have been gone for quite a while now. For two months he has been hanging out in Tahrir square, protesting and engaging in the activities there. Although one might think that all the people in Tahrir have high hopes for a better future Emadh has turned very pessimistic. He always had a pessimistic way of seeing things, but his mood now was more depressing than ever.

At the same time Tahrir and the movement there has changed his world view. I believe he is still profoundly religious. Still he seems to be pro secular government, and thinks that the strong religiousness in Egypt poses big challenges for the country. His mind was opened now, he said. He felt freer, but believed that he somehow had exchanged his economic “freedom” for a newfound political freedom. He had no belief in a rapid transition to democracy, and also thought that the scheduled elections will be postponed several times, maybe even never held. He had a profound mistrust in the current military government, and said that that the few people of the old regime that has been detained is a mere tip of a bigger iceberg that will stay put at the center of Egyptian politics. The economic downturn and absence of tourists that has followed the riots seems everlasting too Emadh. He has little hopes for a rapid recovery.

I would have suspected Emadh of being more taken up in his own grievances, but his concern seemed more to be about the future of his country. I found that his newfound political preferences are left-leaning (in a socio economic sense) rather than religious conservative. He told me that he identified strongly with the leftist/nasserist Hamdeen Sabahi, the founder of the Karama (dignity) party.

Emadhs (negative) thoughts reflect the more suspicious analyses by critical commentators on the changes in Egypt. (See for example Ellis Goldberg, professor of mine: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67416/ellis-goldberg/mubarakism-without-mubarak ). His suspicion of the military is also relieving. Seeing the collective embrace of the people in uniform has been disturbing to many of the foreign observers here. There has been a filling of the power vacuum by the generals. At the same time seeing crowds cheering at the sight of military helicopters and tanks has caused many to worry. I hope, and I think Emadh hopes too, that he is wrong in his negativism. I think the very observance by Emadh and other Egyptians that there is reason to worry about the army’s tightened grip on things, is a positive sign and that as long as the people will continue to check power by turning to the streets, they will have a say in their country’s future.

When it comes down to it, the future of Egypt will depend on the will and action of the people. That the crowds on the streets can no longer be ignored is a remarkable change in itself, but only if the people use their newly achieved space for assembly and expression will Emadhs negativism be proven wrong.

Lars

Cairo

Spring Break, Cars and Beauty of Beirut

Written on Apr 16th

So what to do? I realized that the cord from my computer charger to the wire extension from the power outlet had tangled around my foot, and that this was what caused me to trip over. In frustration over the internet connection not working properly, not being able to send the overdue application that I had spent far too much time on, I had too quickly and with a clumsy movement raised up from the table. I now found myself lying on the floor on the terrace of this Italian restaurant, having partly wet pants because of the fancy fountain flowing over on the floor right next to me. I was alone on the terrace, as Ragna and Simon had left an hour earlier to let me work on my application. The inside of the restaurant was filling up though, and I could feel eyes glaring at me through the large windows. “Are you alright?” As expected the waitress had come out to check on me. She unplugged the charger cable tangled around my foot. “Mumkin al Hasaab?”

I figured Beirut could only get better from then on. Short on sleep, after a disastrous week of late homework turnins, class skippings and not showing up for mid-terms, I could not be more ready for a few days of indulging in the pleassures of modern city life. After leaving the Italian place in a hurry, I found a Costa Coffee in Hamra street, and sent my intern-application after (again!) some hassle with their wireless connection. Time to party, finally.

The bars in Beirut have females in them. Also enjoyable liquor and music. Good service too. I didn’t miss Cairo.

Downtown Beirut. Really something. Today we went around in its posh side alleys, discussing politics and gender equality, business opportunities and fantasizing about our features.

There is a fancy car for every purpose in Downtown Beirut. The upper middle classes cruise around in huge BMW X6s and Audi Q8s. The even richer ones have Corvettes and Ferraris. I knew that there was money in Lebanon, but really? The police drive some pretty mean looking Chevys, and the army has specialized Gelenderwagens with mounted machine guns. Then there are the VIPs. GMCs with dark windows, driving around in columns.

And the women. A hot babe, climbing her Harley Davidson. Tight leather west, Ray Bans and a hands free microphone. Probably aware but still naturally ignorant of the attention she was getting, she roared out of sight down the Beirut avenue. I say no more.

Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, we’ll go to Shatilla refugee camp. Insh Allah we’ll see contrasts. Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll have time for a glimpse of Hezbollah too before we leave this place.

Lars, Beirut

I morgen drar jeg til Cuba. Jeg bare nevner det.

Hilde.

SLAPS, Sofa og SamPol

St.Petersburg er milevis unna, og det sludder i Bergen.
Maja studerer politisk økonomi, krangler med Keynes og Friedman, og skriver bachelor-oppgave om russisk energipolitikk. Noe som er det nærmeste jeg kommer Russland og russisk om dagen.

Mens mine bestevenner slikker sol, suger til seg andre kulturelle impulser og boltrer seg i alt det "utlandet" har å by på, er jeg i Bergen. Og hverdagen i Bergen er definitivt rask, rå og spennende! Jeg møter nye utfordringer hver dag. Idag, for eksempel, var det NOK EN GANG noen i kollektivet som ikke hadde brettet melkepakken riktig, slik at det er plass til mye færre melkepakker i kartongen. Videre så er det ingen som gidder å ta ut papp-søpla. I stedet står hver på sitt, og presser ned mer papp i en pose som gir begrepet "stappfull" en helt ny betydning.

Også den ville byen byr på utfordringer. Igår sluddet og regnet det om hverandre, og det var ingen annen utvei enn å kle på seg STØVLER og REGNTØY!
Dagene på SV-biblioteket er harde. Rett som det er blir en allerede sjør konsentrasjon satt på prøve av rare, kroppslige lyder fra Pål Bakkas kontor.
I kantina blir man stadig satt på prøve med Marthas nye sjokoladeboller, som hun prakker på deg ved en hver anledning.

Ikke minst er jobben utfordrende! Her møter jeg topptrente studenter hver dag, som trenger hjelp til EN REKKE problemer! Av og til trenger de for eksempel plaster hvis de har sittet så lenge på spinningsykkelen at de har fått gnagsår. Dette er det min jobb å hjelpe dem med, og det er veldig utfordrende.

Så jeg savner ikke det spennende utland i det hele tatt, jeg.
Neida, Bergen er utfordrende og spennende, hver dag. Så Mexico, Zambia, Buenos Aires og Egypt kan bare gå å ta seg en bolle.

Bergen is the shit!

Maja