The political economy of oil and its economic and political effects on Saudi Arabia

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Isfahan. Esfahan . Iran

2 Senior expert in Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of Isfahan. Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Rentier governments have a unique characteristic, which can be seen as their independence from the society and the absence of provincial taxes and the separation of resources among the prominent aspects of this characteristic, and such a characteristic can be found in such governments. Politically, these governments have always been authoritarian and unresponsive, and they always try to dominate the society, and in terms of the generally single-product economy, the dependency and government nature of the economy can also be mentioned as their common features. This article aims to show that the Saudi rentier government to examine pathologically from the economic and political point of view due to its dependence on oil revenues. Saudi Arabia, as the world's largest oil producer, is strongly dependent on oil revenues, and despite the adoption of economic policies for independence from oil revenues, these policies have not always been effective, and a significant part of this country's economy is based on oil revenues, and this country's economy has suffered Such things as economic growth reduction, production reduction, private sector weakness, increase in consumerism and production reduction are suffering. Politically, this kingdom has a very authoritarian and dictatorial structure, and oil revenues have been a powerful and widely used tool to advance non-democratic policies, and oil revenues have been able to consolidate the position of the Al Saud family on the power base for many years. Therefore, it can be said that this government has been able to satisfy the social actions of the society independent of the political structure with political persuasion and purchase and more or less has been able to achieve political stability by relying on these revenues. It seems that in the era of globalization and technology, these policies cannot continue and if fundamental changes and reforms are not made in

Keywords

References

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Mesopotamian Political Studies
Volume 2, Issue 2
September 2023

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History

  • Receive Date: 09 July 2023
  • Revise Date: 23 September 2023
  • Accept Date: 25 September 2023

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