Title: The Middle East and Oil: Economic Modernisation and Political Stagnation
Headings: The Middle East and Oil: Economic Modernisation and Political Stagnation
The Middle East and Oil: Economic Modernisation and Political Stagnation
Economics
Politics
Bibliography
Further Reading on E-International Relations

Content: Royalties from oil exploration concessions and then from the sales of oil <have> provided a steady (and steadily increasing) source of revenue to the rulers of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharja (in what would become the UAE) from the 1930s <…> <up to nowadays>. By the 1950s, oil was the major factor in the most of these states’ economies.” [ 5] That is to say, the states’ economies have transformed from agricultural to rentier economies. To be more precise,
Rentier states derive most or a substantial part of their revenues from the outside world and the functioning of their political <as well as economic> system depends to a large degree on accruing external revenues that can be classiﬁed as rents. Rentier states rely on allocation and redistribution (allocation states) and hence show a remarkable different political dynamic than other states (production states).Rents have been deﬁned as ‘the income derived from the gift of nature’ and are usually understood to be income accrued from the export of natural resources, especially oil and gas. [ 6]
Indeed, the major share of revenues in the oil rich Middle East countries has been derived from oil utilization and export. Since the mid-20 th century such oil-rich countries as Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, etc. have experienced a considerable growth of the oil revenues and, as a result, the GDP of these states has been increasing dramatically, reaching a peak in the beginning-mid 1980s. Moreover, along with the GDP, the government expenditure has been growing promptly as well. [ 7] This is the period when the economic modernization in the oil-rich countries, as well as Middle East in general, started. “