Are liberal democracies immune to the democratic resource curse?

The ‘democratic resource curse’ refers to negative effects on democracy of natural resource discovery, given a positive correlation between authoritarianism and resources. Most scholars agree that resources have little effect on liberal democracies, viewing the ‘curse’ as relevant primarily to authoritarian regimes. We challenge this, arguing that democratic institutions may be weakened given the extractive industry’s extensive efforts to promote favorable regulations. We examine this through the Israeli case study where following significant natural gas discovery, several regulatory decisions were made with a critical effect on the profitability of the industry. As the gas companies attempted to influence decisions, there is evidence that their efforts led to potential media capture and increases in forms of legal corruption, such as the ‘revolving door’, and lobbying. We suggest a conceptual framework for analyzing the effects of resource discovery on liberal democracies, providing initial findings and directions for further research.