'Shaping the Saudi State: human agency's shifting role in rentier-state formation'

Hertog, Steffen

doi:10.1017/s0020743807071073

'Shaping the Saudi State: human agency's shifting role in rentier-state formation'

Hertog, Steffen

Authors

Steffen Hertog

Abstract

There are two established ways of recounting the emergence of the modern Gulf oil monarchies. The social scientific explanation describes anonymous structural forces, the “resource curse” of the “rentier state,” and how these have shaped politics and markets with their inexorable logic. The other narrative, of the popular history variety, offers romantic, personalized accounts of desert shaykhs, their whims, and the sudden riches of their families (complemented, in some less benevolent accounts, by tales of monumental corruption).

Citation

Hertog, S. (2007). 'Shaping the Saudi State: human agency's shifting role in rentier-state formation'. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 39(4), 539-563. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743807071073

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Nov 1, 2007
Deposit Date	Sep 24, 2008
Publicly Available Date	Sep 24, 2008
Journal	International Journal of Middle East Studies
Print ISSN	0020-7438
Electronic ISSN	1471-6380
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	39
Issue	4
Pages	539-563
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743807071073
Keywords	Gulf oil monarchies, Rentier state, Resource curse.

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Copyright Statement
This paper has been published in a revised form,
subsequent to editorial input by Cambridge University Press,
in "International journal of Middle East studies"
(39: 4 (2007) 539-563),
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=MES.
© 2007 Cambridge University Press