Sectoral transformations in neopatrimonial rentier states. Rentier state theory rst remains the dominant literature on. Rentier state theory rst is a political economy theory that seeks to explain state. Oil, aid, regimetype rentier state theory grew out of an attempt to understand political development in the oilrich states of the middle east. At the level of explanation, i propose a rentier theory of subnational democracy, which shifts the focus of the rentierstate literature up by climbing sartoris ladder of abstraction from the. A postrentier state is one in which expenditure outstrips rent income, and there is not enough supply of the rent commodity remaining for the deficit to ever be made up. The first phase of the debate was concerned with oil resources and oil and gasrich states.
The rentier state theory revisited nishad sanzagiri. A post rentier state is one in which expenditure outstrips rent income, and there is not enough supply of the rent commodity remaining for the deficit to ever be made up. The origins of the two lefts in latin america raul l. Companion to the political economy of rent seeking. Although a coherent rentier state theory does not exist, the description above. The political economy of subsidy reform in the persian. Extractive economies and conflicts in the global south. This phase is tied to dangers of splitting a fragile rentier state. The rentier state theory is also a concern of this study since it is not only the first initiative that aims to define the different structures of those states but also since it opened the way for analyzing these states as exceptional. Rentier state theory rst is a political economy theory that seeks to explain state society relations in states that generate a large proportion of their income from rents, or externallyderived, unproductivelyearned payments. In a rentier state, the government collects oil revenues and distributes the proceeds to the population. Rentierism, far from being saddled with being the sole explanatory tenet for the entirety of the middle eastern political universe, should instead be treated as a trait of gulf politics introduction. To date, rentier state theory, including recent refinements, has not considered.
First, the institutional capacitystate capacity argument seems rel evant. Hence, this study will target to prove that a critical reading of the. The increased taxation, resulting from the recent code update on strategic substances like cobalt, is passed on to the purchasers of the artisanal cobalt who buy cobalt ore in depots, or openair. In short, it remains the conventional and convenient recourse for assessing this regions economic and sociopolitical developments. Rentier definition of rentier by the free dictionary.
View rentier state theory research papers on academia. The observed tendency towards structural fissure and implosive fragmentation is a virus that could threaten the security and stability of southern sudan if the dysfunctional political economy of rent that infests the larger sudanese. Observing the rents accrued by the governments of gulf states, the allure of implementing rentier state theory rst in explaining their politics is easy to comprehend. Is rentier state theory sufficient to explain the politics. The term rentier state has been used since the 20th century, in a number of ways. The resource curse and rentier states in the caspian region. State formation in iraq has followed the path of many developing states in its struggle against a major foreign power great britain and the attempt to create a modern state administration and representative institutions. The theory of the rentier state suggests that countries that derive the majority of government funds from nontax sources of revenue, such as oil exports, are fundamentally different from countries without such a resource base beblawi and luciani, 1987.
The theory of the rentier state started to emerge in the late 1960s, became. However, the dominant rentier state theory does not offer clear. Centrality of rents and rentier state theory rents have been central to shaping the political economy of the gulf corporation council gcc. Here is a broad, over simplified definition for you. Todays examples of rentier states include gulf nations such as qatar, bahrain, saudi arabia, the united arab emirates, kuwait, and oman, where governments reap massive international revenues rents from oil exportation. The response earned no point for the statement that a rentier state is a state in which the government gets help from other nations.
Income measurement in arab states 2 the rentier state in. Oct 11, 20 rentier state theory, therefore, asserts that a populations political loyalty can be commoditized and purchased. The aim of this essay is to discuss the term rentier state and elaborate on how useful the concept is in explaining the politics of oil producing arab states. External rents allow regimes to avoid taxing their own citizenries, thereby breaking the. Rentier state theory claims that resource abundance causes weak and predatory state institutions. Introduction1 the present paper aims to arrive at a set of guidelines that help to study state formation, state reformation and state deformation processes in the postcolonial states of the arab middle east. Although the central economic factor of an abundant reserve of natural resources remains the. A main theorist of the rentier state theories argues that in a rentier state, the government is the principal recipient of the external rent in the economy. A person who lives on income from property or investments. The origin of the rentier model in the middle east ifri. Rent seeking and the resource curse rune jansen hagen2017 rents and the political economy of development aid both in. Defining rents as effortlessly accrued income streams, rentier states can be seen as those whose economies are dependent on substantial external rent for state revenues schwarz, 2012. Because the government in a rentier state plays the role of benefactor, citizens will.
This article will discuss how the rentier state contributes to the survival of arab absolute monarchies despite the various challenges to their rule. First, the rentierstate theory cannot explain the longrun variation and change in growth of mineral abundant economies eg, botswana, malaysia, venezuela and nigeria. In relation to rentier state, the creuseurs do not pay the newly revised rent or royalties to the state but instead pay a flat value added tax rate. Frontiers an obsolescing bargain in a rentier state. This article shall focus on the political aspects of the resource curse theory, in particular the rentier state theory as a sub theory of the resource curse. Economic adjustment and reform in the context of a rentier. Development of rentierism posted on march, 2014 by john dudovskiy rentier state theory is a political economy theory that seeks to explain statesociety relations in states that generate a large proportion of their income from rents, or externally. Fourth, a corollary of the role of the few, in a rentier state the government is the principal recipient of the external rent. Tourism development and state policy in egypt thomas richter and christian steiner article outline 1. The aforementioned calls for a deeper understanding of such variations as the classic rentier state theory provides static tenets for rentierism as a one size fits all labeling mechanism. The toppling of qaddafi, which was the result of cooperation between local op position and external intervention forces, seems to contribute to the debate about rentier states in several ways.
A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. It was, in the words of one gulf scholar, red meat to the sectarian radicals. Dangers of splitting a fragile rentier state files. Wider working paper 201710 natural resources impact on. A theory of late rentierism in the arab states of the gulf. Economic rent is viewed as unearned revenue, whereas economic profit is a narrower term describing surplus income greater than the next best riskadjusted alternative. The people who are important to the idea of the rentier state paradigm are said to include mahdavy 1970, bablawi 1987, luciani 1987, so they seem to be the people who were instrumental in the origins of the idea. An appraisal article pdf available in uluslararasi iliskiler ssci11. Oil and the rentier state loyola university chicago. Oct 25, 2012 the people who are important to the idea of the rentier state paradigm are said to include mahdavy 1970, bablawi 1987, luciani 1987, so they seem to be the people who were instrumental in the origins of the idea. The population relies on their government for food, shelter, income, and job opportunities. It also discusses particular growth strategies that have been effective in producing longrun economic growth in mineral and fuelabundant developing countries.
The ratio of state to societal resources, however, is speci. Economic adjustment and reform in the context of a rentier state bassam fattouh presented at the graduate institute geneva, september 2017 oxford institute for energy studies. A rentier state would be one where rent income encompasses most government revenue, and has been discussed in detail earlier in this article. From rentier state to failed state 6 the iraqi state was created in 1920 in the aftermath of world war i. A more theoretical approach to rentier state theory in the middle east and international relations. First, the rentier state theory cannot explain the longrun variation and change in growth of mineral abundant economies eg, botswana, malaysia, venezuela and nigeria. Introduction1 the present paper aims to arrive at a set of guidelines that help to study stateformation, state reformation and state deformation processes in the postcolonial states of the arab middle east. The arab spring, increasing oil prices, and the theory of the rentier state the notion of a rentier state implies that a governmentstate hierarchy is dependent upon the accumulation of predominantly natural resource in this case oil derived revenue in order to sustain itself. The disproportionate role of state resources in gcc nationals lives is re.
In the timorese context, the state has become a rentier state because the government is the primary recipient of petroleum revenues beblawi 1987. The contributions and limitations of rentier state theory in the gulf were the focus of a workshop. Abstract this article aims to analyze the implications of the arab uprisings on the rentier state theory rst. The paper argues that fragile rentier states such as sudan are structurally susceptible to fragmentary conflicts. Refinancing the rentier state dspace at aus american. Part ii illustrates the theory of the rentier state, and in particular, how the rentier system affects the economics of the state and work mentality. The implications of the rentier state theory regarding the. The rentier state is a political economy theory that seeks to account for state society. Nevertheless, not all rentier cases suffer from the same socioeconomic issues or react similarly to international oil price fluctuations. The west became involved with irans oil in the following way. The rentier state theory has informed much scholarly research on the middle east and north africa mena region. In current politicalscience and internationalrelations theory, a rentier state is a state which derives all or a substantial portion of its national revenues from the rent of indigenous resources to external clients. Revising rentier state theory for the modern arab states of the gulf.
The resource curse thesis claims that oil rents generate economic stagnation, authoritarianism, and heightened vulnerability to civil war. The rentier state theory rst has received renewed academic traction in its ability to explicate. Initial conceptualization of rentier state was based on the impact of externally generated oil revenues on the economic development as. Mar, 2014 development of rentierism posted on march, 2014 by john dudovskiy rentier state theory is a political economy theory that seeks to explain statesociety relations in states that generate a large proportion of their income from rents, or externallyderived, unproductivelyearned payments gray, 2011, p. Although the central economic factor of an abundant reserve of natural resources remains the constant element around. Introduction the focus of this study is on the rentier character of state and economy in relation to capital accumulation during the period of 19601997 in iran. Silje aslaksen and ragnar torvik department of economics norwegian university of science and technology n7491 trondheim norway emails. Rentier state theory has long been able to explain the relationship. Today gulfs oil monarchies, archetypes within the rentier state theory are, in contrast. Unlike economic profit, economic rent cannot be theoretically eliminated by competition, since all value from natural resources and locations yields economic rent. Stateformation in iraq has followed the path of many developing states in its struggle against a major foreign power great britain and the attempt to create a modern state administration and representative institutions. The political economy theory of the rentier state, as sketched by mahdavy in 1970 and expanded by beblawi and luciani in 1987, holds that the massive influx of oilrent plays a large, perhaps dominant, role in shaping the political and social relationships between state and society. One point was earned for identifying nigeria as a rentier state, but no point was earned for describing a problem that a rentier state faces and the impact of that problem on economic development. Pdf this article aims to analyze the implications of the arab uprisings on the rentier state theory rst.
The framework has since been applied to understand the politics of resourcerich countries in latin america, asia and africa, with proponents arguing that rentier. Seventeen indices of different aspects of democracy were derived from this dataset. Secondly, the variation and change in economic growth in nonmineral rich economies is. A theory of civil conflict and democracy in rentier states. Rentier state theory, therefore, asserts that a populations political loyalty can be commoditized and purchased. At the level of explanation, i propose a rentier theory of subnational democracy, which shifts the focus of the rentierstate literature up by climbing sartoris ladder of abstraction from the concept of resource rents to that of fiscal rents. The rentier state theory situates the state as the unit of analysis by explaining how petroleum dependency shapes the states relations with society and its role in economic development. The rentier state theory originally developed in relation to irans mid20 th century economy.
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