According to Beblawi, a rentier state is different from interventionist states in that the economy is based in large part on "rent" from external countries. These rentier states therefore rely heavily on other countries in order to support their economy. As a result, they do not have a strong export economy and rely heavily on imports. Since external factors are the basis for the economy, it can cause a disconnect between the state and the citizens. It can be hard to be loyal to a country or have a personal stake in it if your taxes are barely helping the country compared to external rent. It might make citizens feel that their country is not that powerful and is simply being exploited by other countries for their resources. Rentier states also may cause their citizens to feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things because their money doesn't really help or change their country. Their tax money, which is significantly less than the money received from other states, is less important to the government. If the government's people are not seen as that important, then it can cause further disconnect between the people and government. Beblawi states that one of the most important characteristics of a rentier state is that the states government is the main beneficiary of the rent. Many rentier states receive a very large sum of money from other states, but that money usually does not go directly to the people. It usually, and especially in the MENA region, makes the government wealthy with little of the rentier money going to the people. This can cause even more disconnect because the government becomes wealthy while the people can only watch. This can cause resentment towards the government.
I really like your point about loyalty. I think the idea of being "less important" to the state because of the weak tax collection system plays into the idea that we talked about in class where there is a national identity crisis. Since the people are less important to the state, the vice versa applies, and because of this, the population becomes fragmented without a sense of pride in their statehood. When mixed with the disparity in the dispersal of funds, the rentier state makes it difficult for its fragmented segments of society to come together to form a singular, homogenous identity which gets at the core of the weak legitimacy of these states.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked how you mentioned loyalty. I really do think that if the citizens are not important then that really emphasizes the disconnect. I really do think their are so many different aspects to this that cause resentment between the government and its people.
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