The implications of the rentier state theory regarding the major oil-producing states of the Middle East

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Near East Near Orient grade: 67 School of Oriental and African Studies University of London course: State and Transformation in the Middle East language: English abstract: The rentier state theory has informed much scholarly research on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. 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. 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.88).With several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region ranking among the rentier states it is important to consider the term which has influenced political thinking of the past and the present. This argumentation raises the question of adequacy concerning the notion of the rentier state in analysing political processes in the major oil-producing states of the Middle East. In order to answer this question this essay is divided into two main parts. In a first section it will consider the main features that the rentier state theorists have set out and the implications that this theory brings about. In a second step the main limitations of this theory will be elaborated as well as some of its benefits will be considered.Close reading of the theories by Hossein Mahdavy (1970) Giacomo Luciani (1987) and Hazem Beblawi (1990) the consideration of critical essays on theories of the rentier state as well as a glance at countries ranking among rentier states by definition leads to the conclusion that the rentier state theory judges generalises and oversimplifies the respective states that rank among the definition of the rentier states. The theory focuses on the economy of a state and how a regime manages this economy and excludes many elements that a