How Resource Wealth Shapes Societies: Congo and the Gulf States

This analysis explores how the Kingdom of Congo and modern Gulf states amassed vast wealth through the slave trade and hydrocarbons, respectively. Both used monopolies on lucrative resources to build absolute, authoritarian regimes, neglecting innovation and societal development. The result: centralized power, arbitrary governance, stagnation, and long-term instability. The Gulf states risk repeating Congo's cycle if they continue relying solely on oil.

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