Rentierism

Rentierism is not a distinctly MENA problem, however the concentration in MENA is such that it does warrant explaining why there tends to be a higher quantity of poor social and democratic outcomes within the region. That said I do agree with the statement of oil rents interacting with other factors that produce the level of poor outcomes in the region, not only oil itself. I think that Michael Ross makes many good points within the piece he writes and I agree with many of them being ways that the outcomes could be so poor within the region. For example, his small portion about the “Repression Effect” (Ross, 335) is a reason that makes a lot of sense, compared to many parts of the world MENA’s wealth is extremely centralized within the people who rule the country. They have the ability to invest much of their money into their own success and protection from those who are attempting to remove the power they have. In addition, since the people in power have such a reliance on oil specifically they are much more inclined to maintain control over oil rents and that leads them to believe that force and authoritarian control must be the only or best way to make sure that the control they exert is kept stable.

However, the main point of this article is Michael Ross’s part where he discusses the idea of the “Rentier Effect” (Ross, 332). This is actually an extremely interesting idea that while citizens understand they are being subjected and do not receive the same benefits and freedoms as other countries they are less likely to care because of the fact that they are taxed less and therefore feel as if they do not need to demand accountability from their government. For example the Saudi Arabian government has been notoriously cruel and has countless human rights violations that they commit, however they practice something called the “spending effect” (Ross, 333). Which means they spend more money on their people who in turn look away from any of the obvious lackluster citizen representation that they have. When the ruling party or family in KSA’s example, have for so long continuously provided low taxes and higher standards of living for the people whom call it home there will be much more resistance to change in leadership. This in turn with the government’s work to make sure that citizens were distinctly lacking political awareness, and aptitude means that the government is able to not provide advances in democracy or rights to many without much political pressure.

I believe that these rents contribute greatly to the effect of limiting political uprising and keeping parties in rule. However, I also believe that the power most top leaders wield is also a massive part of it because oil rents have not been able to fully put down the people of their countries, as most countries in this region have at one point had massive democracy movements recently. Most of which failed, not due to the rentier effect, but do to the power which those in power wield to make sure their people are kept in place and continue to be subjects and not political threats.