The Paradox of Plenty: Why Balochistan's Resources Fuel Poverty скачать в хорошем качестве

The Paradox of Plenty: Why Balochistan's Resources Fuel Poverty

The resource curse in Pakistan's Balochistan province. Key Topics Covered: Core-Periphery Dynamic: How central government policies perpetuate colonial-era resource extraction. Institutional Failures: Mismanagement of Reko Diq, Saindak, and Sui gas projects. Flawed Financial Distribution: The National Finance Commission (NFC) award's inequity. Governance Issues: Federal fund withholding, weak provincial administration, and corruption. Cycle of Violence: How historical grievances fuel ethnic insurgency and deter investment. CPEC Critique: Examining if the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor reinforces or resolves the core-periphery problem. Discusses how Pakistan's Balochistan province, despite being immensely rich in natural resources like copper, gold, and gas, and holding a critical geostrategic location, suffers from extreme poverty and underdevelopment, a phenomenon termed the 'resource curse.' The main claim is that this paradox is caused by a systemic core-periphery dynamic where the central government has historically treated Balochistan as an extractive resource frontier, perpetuating colonial-era exploitation. The logic is supported by evidence of institutional failures including mismanagement of major resource projects like Reko Diq and Saindak, leading to lost revenue and penalties; constitutional violations regarding the precedence of local resource use, as seen with the Sui gas fields; flawed financial distribution mechanisms like the National Finance Commission that disadvantage Balochistan; federal withholding of development funds; and chronic political underrepresentation. Additionally, weak provincial governance, corruption, and patrimonial politics prevent allocated funds from reaching the populace. This history of grievance fuels ethnic insurgency, creating a cycle of violence and discouraging legitimate investment. Even major modern interventions like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are critiqued for potentially reinforcing this core-periphery dynamic by disproportionately allocating investment outside Balochistan and risking becoming merely a transit route rather than a source of local economic uplift, as evidenced by the limited impact of past infrastructure projects like the Makran Coastal Highway. ⠀ Buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/deepdiveglobal