Workshop: Changing State-Society Relations in Gulf Rentier States

group photo of conference attendees
Participants convened in 103 Chancellor Green Hall for a two-day workshop on January 25-26, 2019 to discuss various issues affecting the Gulf Rentier States.

Topic:

Responding to the 2014 oil price fall, Gulf rentier states have begun implementing long-overdue fiscal reforms, with some embarking on ambitious economic transition strategies.  Yet to what extent do the underlying political, social, developmental, and environmental challenges of rent-dependence remain?  How have such shifts been affecting the state-society relationships in these states which are often described as the "social contract"?  This workshop aims to re-evaluate core elements of the state-society relationship in the Gulf rentier states, in order to offer a contextualized account of the political economy of development and state legitimacy in the high rent economies in the Gulf, and to generate a revised (or updated) conception of rentierism.

Princeton University Co-Conveners:

Prof. Bernard Haykel (Princeton University)
Dr. Jessie Moritz (Australian National University)
Dr. Makio Yamada (Princeton University)

 
Participants:
Name
Affiliation
Presentation title
Gail Buttorff University of Houston "The Oil Price Crisis: A Setback for Women in Oman?"
Courtney Freer London School of Economics "State Religious Authorities in Rentier Economies and the Management of Independent Islamism"
Steffen Hertog London School of Economics "What Do We Know about the 'Rentier Mentality' 30 Years after The Rentier State?"
Jim Krane Rice University "The Energy Transition's Threat to Oil and Gas Rents and States Reliant on Them"
Jessie Moritz Australian National University "Re-conceptualizing Civil Society in Gulf Rentier States"
Faris Al-Sulayman King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies "State-Business Relations in the Saudi 'Reform Era': Growing Pressures and Divergent Economic Policy Agendas"
Mark C. Thompson King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals "Nurturing Saudi Youth as a Key Producer of Socio-Economic Progress"
Makio Yamada Princeton University "Rentier Resilience?: A Still Missing Pathway to Production State"
Karen Young American Enterprise Institute "Sovereign Gamble: Changing Roles of Gulf SWFs as Engines of Growth and Political Aspiration"

Princeton University Listening Participants: Amin Moghadam, Tolga Demiryol, Daniel Tavana