Oil seems to prevent the development of democracy and a free market economy. Oilrich countries as diverse as Nigeria, Saudi-Arabia, Irak, Iran, Venezuela or Azerbaijan appear to be among the least democratic countries with highly closed economies and little signs of change in their course. This assumption can be confirmed by the empirical correlation between low indices in democratic rule and in the openness of the economy, and the endowment with natural resources. Intuitively everybody could explain that in each of these countries a narrow elite can keep up this state due to almost unlimited and unconditional cash inflows compensating for ineffective economic structures and buying off the population with populist policies in subsidizing consumption or low taxation.
In his book Economic Development and Political Reform – The Impact of External Capital on the Middle East Bradley Louis Glasser puts the development of Middle Eastern states with different degrees of resource endowment into a broader perspective. Economic liberalization and democratization are explained in the context of external capital contributing to both economic development theories and transitology.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Development in rent-poor countries and rent-rich countries
3. Reflection of strategies of reform, pseudo-reform or non-reform in the electoral systems
4. Role attributed to different political parties
5. Foreign aid and its impact on domestic reform
6. Findings and general developmental patterns in the Middle East
Research Objectives and Themes
The work aims to investigate the influence of external revenues—such as oil rents and foreign aid—on the domestic political and economic reform processes within Middle Eastern states, challenging existing transitological theories by incorporating macro-structural factors.
- The causal link between the quantity/quality of external revenues and domestic political strategy.
- The contrast between rent-poor countries pursuing reform and rent-rich countries maintaining the status quo.
- The impact of foreign aid on domestic policy and political coalition building.
- The role of electoral systems and political parties in mediating or resisting economic liberalization.
Excerpt from the Book
The impact of external revenues on domestic strategies
Glasser claims that the amount, the stability of flows and the degree of conditionality attached to external revenues influence the domestic strategies of ruling elites. Shrinking, volatile or conditional revenues make political leaders seek to build domestic coalitions with liberal or centre-right business elites to broaden their legitimacy to put through neo-liberal economic reforms, usually involving the establishment of (semi-)democratic parliaments. Moreover, politically privileging and strengthening these social groups, e.g. through favourable voting systems and reversing earlier discrimination, ensures better access to international capital. States profiting from unlimited and unconditional exogenous windfalls in turn attempt to keep the status quo, increase statism and populist tendencies, often also through mechanisms of manipulating electoral systems and preferential treatment of lower classes. Thus, Glasser claims, not only the vigor of reform policies but also the configuration of parliamentary coalitions in the respective countries is influenced by exogenous revenues following a regional pattern. Moreover, he turns attention to the impact of foreign aid as another important component of external revenue and its possibly negative impact on reform.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter establishes the theoretical groundwork by outlining existing literature, research questions, and the basic hypotheses regarding external capital and domestic change.
2. Development in rent-poor countries and rent-rich countries: The author analyzes the diverging paths of states based on their resource endowment, explaining why some were forced into economic reform while others maintained the status quo.
3. Reflection of strategies of reform, pseudo-reform or non-reform in the electoral systems: This section examines how reformist or conservative agendas were translated into the design of electoral systems across the four selected case studies.
4. Role attributed to different political parties: The chapter explores how governments utilized specific political parties and movements to either legitimize economic restructuring or to consolidate authoritarian power.
5. Foreign aid and its impact on domestic reform: The author compares Jordan and Egypt to demonstrate the ambiguous role of foreign aid in either fostering or impeding democratic and economic development.
6. Findings and general developmental patterns in the Middle East: This final chapter synthesizes the research findings, identifying regional patterns and providing a broader outlook on political transformation in the Middle East.
Keywords
External revenue, Middle East, political reform, economic liberalization, rentier state, foreign aid, transitology, democratization, electoral systems, authoritarianism, economic development, political economy, domestic coalitions, structural adjustment, regional patterns.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this book?
The book examines the relationship between exogenous economic factors, specifically external revenues, and domestic political changes in Middle Eastern countries.
What are the central themes discussed in the work?
Key themes include the impact of resource endowment (oil rents vs. aid), the influence of foreign aid on domestic stability, and the strategies elites use to either pursue or avoid neo-liberal economic reforms.
What is the primary objective of the research?
The author aims to establish testable hypotheses about the causal links between the quantity and quality of external revenues and the success or failure of political and economic reforms.
Which scientific methodology is applied?
The work employs a comparative case study approach, analyzing four specific Middle Eastern countries—Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, and Kuwait—to derive broader developmental patterns.
What topics are covered in the main body of the work?
The main body covers the literature on rentier states, the economic crisis of the 1980s, the role of electoral systems in shaping political outcomes, and the specific impact of foreign aid on political regimes.
Which keywords characterize the analysis?
The work is characterized by terms such as rentier state, economic liberalization, foreign aid, political transformation, and authoritarian cycles.
How does Glasser differentiate between the states analyzed?
He classifies them by their degree of external revenue dependency, identifying 'minimally rentier states' like Turkey and Morocco, 'semi-rentier states' like Egypt, and 'highly rentier states' like Kuwait.
What specific challenge does the author pose to current transitological theories?
Glasser challenges the traditional emphasis on elite agency, arguing that macro-structural factors, specifically the availability and nature of external capital, play a critical role in determining whether states transition toward democracy or remain authoritarian.
- Quote paper
- Maximilian Spinner (Author), 2003, Book review on B. L. Glasser's "Economic Development and Political Reform: The Impact of External Capital on the Middle East", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/13411
