Democracy ant its perspective in Persian Gulf

Sardarnia, Khalilolah

doi:10.22124/wp.2017.2484

Democracy ant its perspective in Persian Gulf" Sheikdoms with critical reappraisal of late Rentierism

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Khalilolah Sardarnia

Shiraz University

10.22124/wp.2017.2484

Abstract

Rentier state theory (RST) gained currency in the late 1980s, and remains widely cited or accepted, as an explanation for the lack of democratization and for economic problems in oil- and gasproducing states of the Middle East. It postulates that externally-derived, unproductively-derived 'rents' such as oil and gas revenues (or fees, foreign aid, and the like) give the state autonomy from society, removing pressures for democratization, economic liberalization, and other policies in response to societal antagonism or pressure. Societal pressures are 'bought off' by rents, and rents also pay the cost of an expansive state repressive capacity. This argument is, of course, simplistic, and the development strategies of the Gulf in the past two decades - including the spectacular globalized development of Dubai and, more recently, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and others - suggests that a simple argument of state autonomy from society is inaccurate or incomplete, and that RST requires refinement and sophisticatization

Keywords

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