Open AccessRentier state as an obstacle to development in the Middle East
Author(s) -
Andrzej Guzowski
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
politikon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1583-3984
pISSN - 2414-6633
DOI - 10.22151/politikon.21.3
Subject(s) - middle east , natural resource , obstacle , peninsula , forcing (mathematics) , sword , politics , state (computer science) , exploitation of natural resources , dutch disease , blessing , resource (disambiguation) , economics , economy , development economics , natural resource economics , business , economic system , political science , geography , computer network , archaeology , algorithm , climatology , geology , computer science , law , operating system
Many Middle Eastern countries, especially the ones in Arabian Peninsula, are well-known for being rich with oil and gas. While it could be considered a blessing by many, it is becoming more and more apparent that the abundance of natural resources in the region is a double-edged sword and a form of a natural resource trap. Many countries have become so-called “rentier states”, funding their operations and their very structures by renting their resources to external actors. While it may seem like a profitable political move at first, said overreliance conserved the structure of economies in the Middle Eastern, never forcing the countries to develop effectively, thus making most of the produced goods, other than oil and gas, uncompetitive on the international market. Long term, it may prove disastrous for the Middle East as eventually the resources are going to get exhausted and said countries will be left with nothing but an economic structure unadjusted to the 21stcentury.