With 77% of the states budget derived from oil revenues hvidt, 20. A dictionary of business and management in the middle east and north africa authors. This allows for the wealth to be distributed in a politically charged manner to. Economic diversification potential in the rentier states. Feb 04, 2016 beblawi, hazem 1987 the rentier state in the arab world in the arab studies quarterly, volume 9, issue no. Click and collect from your local waterstones or get free uk delivery on orders over. This article investigates qatars sustainability crisis of the high levels of water, electricity and food use. In the timorese context, the state has become a rentier state because the government is the primary recipient of petroleum revenues beblawi 1987. Nauruans were given free education, health, telephone service, and. The macrobehaviour of oil rentier states in the arab region mahmoud abdelfadil 5. Rentier states are sometimes part of rentier economies, where the economy is primarily supported by state expenditure. A theoretical construct developed by hazem beblawi and giacomo luciani, which categorizes some countries in terms of their disproportionate reliance upon one or several inherited sources of rents, such as mineral resources, notably oil and gas. A theoretical framework, andhazem beblawi, the rentier state in the arab world, in luciani and beblawi, eds. Rentier state theory rst gained currency in the late 1980s, and remains.
Rentier curse and the challenges to development in the. 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. Pdf the palestinian authority and the rentier state. Contrarily, the theory of the rentier state largely neglected in the study of peace and war in this respect suggests that regimes use revenue from abundant resources to buy off peace through patronage, largescale distributive policies and effective repression. Rentier state was now clearly counterposed to an ideal type production state implicitly. A rentier state is defined as a state whose primary function is to distribute revenue derived from the rent of indigenous resources to external clients ross 2001. Croom helm and the istituto affari internazionali, 1987. The states autonomy from taxation also allows for an unjust distribution of wealth within the state. Since the extraction of oil and its export policy are solely controlled by the national government, all the revenue from oil rent flow into the authoritarian regimes coffer. Written by alessandro zicchieri further, a dependence upon oil for state finances has been shown to offer a rentier effect. This paper proposes that the rentier state and resource curse. In addition, beblawiluciani define a political system as a rentier state only if a minority in the population is engaged in the generation of the rent, while the majority is.
The first phase of the debate was concerned with oil resources and oil and gasrich states. Similarly, nathan jensen and leonard wantchekon have concluded, the key mechanism linking 1 countries vary tremendously in their taxnontax revenue mix. The rentier state theory revisited nishad sanzagiri. The country is at a crossroads, as evidenced by both its unsustainable economic model and the plan that the government proposed in spring 2016 to overcome dependence on oil, vision 2030. Income measurement in arab states 2 the rentier state in the. In boundaries and state territory in the middle east and north africa. Later works still held to the broad characterizations of the rentier state that luciani, beblawi, and others developed in the 1980s and 1990s. Sectoral transformations in neopatrimonial rentier states. Yet, faisal requested from the great powers of world war i that.
And it is the responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear that these movements these movements of. To facilitate the free flow of ideas and knowledge through publishing the products. Beblawi began his career as a lecturer at the university of alexandria in 1965 and taught economyrelated courses at several universities, including the university of southern california, until 1980. The macrobehaviour of oilrentier states in the arab region mahmoud abdelfadil 5. Oil wealth and regime stability in light of the arab.
Beblawi 1990, however, delineates four basic characteristics of a rentier state which are a rent. This tends to make the citizenry in rentier states deeply opposed to reforms that promise longterm gains in return for shortterm losses beblawi and luciani 1987. Egypt was the second arab state after tunisia proclaiming its will to overcome failures of importsubstituting industrialisation at the beginning of the 1970s. Since the extraction of oil and its export policy are solely controlled by the national government, all the. To understand such a state of affairs, this article provides an analysis of the saudi economys accumulation regime. The argument that timorleste is a rentier state based on various characteristics, namely independence of the state visavis domestic economy, composition of gdp, proportion of public expenditure as domestic economy, employment structure, and dutch disease. Beblawi, hazem 1987 the rentier state in the arab world in the arab studies quarterly, volume 9, issue no. The oil price drop which occurred in international markets in 2014 has revived concerns about the economic situation of saudi arabia. This phase is tied to dangers of splitting a fragile rentier state. The rentier state hazem beblawi, giacomo luciani eds.
A theory of late rentierism in the arab states of the gulf. The politics of demobilization in rentier autocracies desha m girod, megan a stewart, and meir r walters conflict. Considering the decarbonization process of the global economy and rapidly fall in economic value of hydrocarbons in the face of the supply glut, rentier states depending on oil and gas revenues. The rentier state theory rst has been proposed to explain the unique economicpolitic nature of the authoritarian and resourcerich countries starting in the 1970s 7,8.
Hazem beblawi, a banker from cairo, refined the definition two decades later by adding four new elements which have since become canonical. Economic crisis and postrentier democratization in the arab. The idea of the rentier state lacking a positive and societallyengaged economic policy, therefore, probably held water then. The concept of a rentier state has gained renewed interest with the advent of the oil era.
It was the successful iranian revolution in 1979 that led saudi shias to demand equal rights and government reforms al. The rentier stateresource curse narrative and the state of the. Is rentier state theory sufficient to explain the politics of the uae. Rentier state theory, arab uprisings, oil and politics, political economy of the. Rentier curse and the challenges to development in the middle. Rentier state theory and the arab uprisings uluslararas. This volume, first published in 1987, is devoted to a discussion of inte.
State formation processes in rentier states columbia university. A rentier state is one that derives a substantial part of its revenue from foreign sources and under the form of rent beblawi and luciani 1987, 11. This volume, first published in 1987, is devoted to a discussion of interrelations of the economic base with the cultural, social and political structures, and of its impact on the state. Previously he served as deputy prime minister and minister of finance in 2011. The particular case of gccs countries as rentier state has been at. Fiscal institutions in a rentier state the case of the.
Sectoral transformations in neopatrimonial rentier states 7 the most influential arab states, with the most populous and second largest economy after saudi arabia. 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. In current politicalscience and internationalrelations theory, a rentier state is a state which. This allows for the wealth to be distributed in a politically charged manner to favoured sectors and social groups. According to beblawi an essential characteristic of rentier states is the fact that only a few are engaged in the. The rentier state by hazem beblawi, giacomo luciani. Rentier and nonrentier states in the arab spring a cursory look at the events of the arab spring suggests that there is a. Patterns and problems of economic development in rentier states. The rentier state in the arab world hazem beblawi 3.
The revenue earned by a rentier state is free to be distributed without any consequences or supervision. An assessment of the role of nigerian state in enforcing. This paper develops a theoretical model to analyze whether a rentier state can diversify its economy away from the rent revenue and hence sustain the economic development and preserve the statusquo. The rentier state in the arab world hazem beblawi introduction the concept of a rentier state has gained renewed interest with the advent of the oil era and the emergence of the new arab oilproducing states. Is rentier state theory sufficient to explain the politics of. Income measurement in arab states thomas stauffer 2. The disproportionate role of state resources in gcc nationals lives is re. Ross uses regression analysis to demonstrate how, as a states value of oil or mineral exports rises, there is a. In many ways, kuwait is an archetypal rentier state, being both a major oil exporter and an absolutist monarchy where executive authority lies with a hereditary amir. Beyond these factors, arguably less important to the. A theory of late rentierism in the arab states of the gulf 5 the 1990 invasion of kuwait and the subsequent 19901991 gulf war, the sanctions from 1990 to 2003, and the 2003 iraq war and the political and economic problems that have ensued since.
In a rentier state, a small segment of the society has access directly in the creation of wealth while the rest involves in distribution and utilization of the wealth 6,8. This is a fact of paramount importance, cutting across the whole of the social fabric of the economy affecting the role. Is rentier state theory sufficient to explain the politics. Amir faisal, the leader of the 1916 arab revolt and a firm believer in the idea of arab unity had hypothesized that once the victors of world war i would concede arab independence and help them establish their local competence, the natural influences of race, language and interest would soon draw all arabs into one people. The concept of a rentier state has gained renewed interest with the advent of the oil era and the. Pdf this article aims to analyze the implications of the arab uprisings on the rentier. Are rentier monarchies a viable road to development in the. The rentier state in the arab war id hazem beblawi introduction the concept of a rentier state has gained renewed interest with the advent of the oil era and the emergence of the new arab oilproducing states. The ratio of state to societal resources, however, is speci. In general, a rentier state is a government that is able to extract significant rents from international transactions and thereby become the dominant actor in the political economy beblawi and luciani, 1987. The rentier state by hazem beblawi, giacomo luciani waterstones.
The economic problems of saudi arabia do not stem from the weakness of its institutions. The rentier state 1st edition hazem beblawi giacomo. Quite the opposite, forged by oil exports, the structures of its rentier economy are wellestablished and difficult to push forward. Economic crisis and postrentier democratization in the. In a celebrated passage, adam smith distinguished between rent and other sources of income. The symbiosis of sectarianism, authoritarianism, and.
A theory of late rentierism in the arab states of the gulf 5 the 1990 invasion of kuwait and the subsequent 19901991 gulf war, the sanctions from 1990 to 2003, and the 2003 iraq war and the political and economic problems that have ensued since then. Beblawi and giacomo luciani in an edited volume published in 1987. This is a fact of paramount importance, cutting across the whole of the social fabric of the economy affecting the role of the state in the society beblawi, 1990, p. Water free fulltext a rentier state under blockade. Buy the rentier state by hazem beblawi, giacomo luciani from waterstones today. In political science and international relations 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. Jul 27, 2015 introduction hazem beblawi and giacomo luciani. Third parties are taxed in the rentier state by paying profits for commodities. Though utterly free enterprise or ment employees in. The implications of the rentier state theory regarding the. In a celebrated passage, adam smith distinguished between. Income measurement in arab states 2 the rentier state in. Rentier state, confirmed by various quantitative data and qualitative analyses.
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