The recent “Arab Spring” uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East emerged in part out of citizens’ frustration with the secrecy and corruption of nondemocratic governments, whose officials enjoy lavish existences while ordinary citizens live in poverty. For instance, Muammar el-Qaddafi and his family accumulated more than $50 billion in foreign assets, while one in three Libyans today live below the poverty line.
A law set to go into effect in the United States in the coming months could mark a significant step forward in the battle to sever the secrecy surrounding natural resource revenues and ensure that a country’s wealth benefits its people.