No / Using a critical political economy approach and the concept of labour precarity, the international dive tourism industry in Sabah, Malaysia and its workers’ vulnerabilities are interrogated. Fieldwork data highlights dive tourism’s socio-economic impacts and the precarity of labour within the international tourism sector and also critiques it as a development strategy for a peripheral region. The paper challenges the optimistic views of labour precarity found in the existing political economy literature. Rather than identifying labour empowerment, evidence demonstrates significant worker vulnerability, uncertainty, and contingency – especially among ethnic minorities – resulting from Malaysia’s state-led rentier economy. / British Countil PMI2 (R18)

This study’s purpose is testing the rentier state theory’s relationship to the degree of democracy and political stability in the MENA-region. In order to fulfill the aim of this study three research questions are formulated: what kind of relationship exists between oil export per capita and political stability in the MENA region? To what extent does the rentier state theory explain the variation in the degree of democracy in the MENA region? What kind of relationship exists between the rentier state theory and the degree of democracy in the MENA region? To which four hypotheses are formulated. Furthermore, to test these hypotheses and thereby meet the purpose of this study, its methodological approach consists of two regression models: one multiple regression analysis and one bivariate regression analysis. The former is set out to test the relationship between the dependent variable degree of democracy and the independent variables oil rent, tax revenue and political stability, using the control variable HDI. The latter regression analysis is employed to test the relationship between oil export per capita as the independent variable and political stability as the dependent variable. The multiple regression model finds insufficient support for the rentier state theory as an explanatory model for the variation in democracy in the MENA region, only observing a significant relationship with tax revenue. Whereas the bivariate regression model finds a significant positive relationship between oil export per capita and political stability. These findings do not exclude the possibility that the rentier state theory can explain variations in the degree of democracy in other oil rich regions outside of the Middle East and North Africa region. Nor do the results exclude the possibility of the rentier state theory explaining the variations in degree of democracy in certain MENA region countries. Additionally, there is reason to believe that a higher oil export per capita contributes to a higher degree of political stability in the MENA region. The observations of this study are problematized using earlier research that propose further studies including explanatory factors beyond the rentier state theory in the MENA region. These factors include armed conflicts, post colonialism and religious radicalization.

<p>Syftet med undersökningen var att med hjälp av lämpliga statistiska metoder testa det så kallade ”Första petropolitiska lagen” med vilket menas en negativ korrelation mellan priset på råolja och graden av friheten hos petropolitiska länder. Med stöd av ett lämplig teoretisk referensram och diskussion över de kausala mekanismerna, har en hypotes över sambandet tagits fram. Trettio tre petropolitiska stater har identifierats vilket omfattar hela populationen. Demokratiska friheter och priset på råolja har definierats och omvandlats till en kvantifierbar form och sedan testats statistiskt. Samtliga variabler har kodats i form av tidsserieobservationer och en paneldata har konstruerats innehållande totalt 939 årliga observationer för de trettio tre petropolitiska länder. Den aggregerade sambandet över hela populationen har testats med en OLE regressionsanalys med så kallad ”first-order” autokorrelation med panelspecifika standardavvikelser. Den första petropolitiska lagen har även testats individuellt för varje petropolitisk land som ingick i urvalet. Erhållen resultat från aggregerat regressionsanalys tyder på att det föreligger ett svagt, med 95 % statistiskt signifikant, positiv samband mellan den beroende och den oberoende variabeln. När sambandet testades enskilt för varje land, har endast 16 av 33 länder fått signifikanta korrelationsnivåer. Fem av länder visade en negativ samband medan elva länder visade en positiv samband mellan beroende och oberoende variabler. Hypotesen har därmed kunnat falsifieras. Förklaringsgraden, samt autokorrelationsproblem tyder dock på att en mer omfattande analys krävs för att kunna säkerställa erhållna resultat.</p> / <p>The purpose of this study was to, with proper statistical methods, investigate so called ”The First Law of Petropolitics”. The First Law of Petropolitics postulates that there exists a negative correlation between price of oil and pace of freedom in the oil-rich petrolist states. A hypothesis has been formulated based on appropriate theoretical references and a discussion about its causal mechanisms. Thirty three petropolist states have been identified which comprises the whole population. The pace of freedom and the price of oil has been defined and transformed into a quantifiable measure and tested statistically. Variables were coded into a time-series panel-data form which included 939 annual observations for those thirty three petrolist states. The aggregated correlation between dependent and independent variables has been tested with an OLE regression analysis with so called “first-order autocorrelation with panel-specific standard errors”. The first law of petropolitics also has been individually tested for each petrolist state. The results from the aggregate regression suggest that there exists a weak, with 95 % statistically significant, positive correlation between a dependent and an independent variables. When each petrolist state has been regressed individually the results showed that only 16 of 33 states had significant levels of correlation. Five of those states had a negative correlation, while other eleven states had a positive correlation. The hypothesis has therefore been falsified. The low R2 –value obtained in both tests and autocorrelation problems suggest that a further investigation of the First Law of Petropolitics is necessary in order to secure the obtained results.</p>

Vor 50 Jahren löste sich Algerien nach langem Kampf endgültig aus dem französischen Kolonialreich. Die anschließend durchgeführten Wirtschaftsreformen konnten das Land aber nicht befrieden, weil sie keine effektive Nutzung der Rente verwirklichten. Bis heute ist die Wirtschaft des Landes wenig diversifiziert und stark von Erdöleinnahmen abhängig. Ist eine exportorientierte Industrialisierung als Lösung der Probleme denkbar?

The overall purpose of this thesis can be put as the search for the prospects of the establishment of a renewable energy paradigm in a conventional example of an oil-rich state. The sample actor of the oil paradigm is chosen as the United Arab Emirates, as it represents the overall character of the Arab Gulf region, as well as being an appropriate example of what is termed as the &lsquo / rentier state&rsquo / . Within this framework, firstly it is aimed to shed light on the negative impacts of the oil paradigm in terms of economic problems, social imbalances, and environmental consequences. Secondly, it is sought to answer the question of what has been done for the incorporation of a renewable energy policies into various aspects of Emirati governance, ever since the country&rsquo / s independence in 1971. Thirdly, the causal relationship between the country&rsquo / s renewable energy policies and certain positive outcomes will be highlighted. This thesis would be informative to show whether United Arab Emirates could be a model for other rentier states of the region and beyond, towards the embracing of renewable energy paradigm in the face of depleting oil resources.

This thesis focuses on three state theories that aim to define the structures of the Third World states by the West. The terms of the &lsquo / rentier&rsquo / , &lsquo / failed&rsquo / and &lsquo / rogue&rsquo / states are critically examined in an attempt to understand how they define the difference, how they negate the different, and how they legitimize certain policies towards the different. By concentrating on the liberal theorizing that analyzes the state on the basis of the claimed civil society-state divide, and from an orientalist perspective, this study aims to demonstrate that these state theories refuse the possibility of transformation of those states by their own internal dynamics. It is argued that with the help of such discourses, rather than being simple theoretical constructs these state theories have become functional means to legitimize certain historical practices.

Yes / This paper critically revisits the debate on natural resource rent, curse and conflict, interrogating some of the key assumptions that have become received knowledge in extant discourses. The paper demonstrates how orthodox theories’ preoccupation with issues of resource rent and resource curse tend to be marred by slants of ahistoricity and state-centricity. Adopting a stakeholder approach to the issues of resource rent and conflict in Africa, the author argues that natural resource rents produce and attract a multiplicity of competitive stakeholders, both domestic and external, in the resource-rich states. The competition and jostling of stakeholders for access to, and appropriation of, rentier resources is too often an antagonistic process in many emerging economies that has consequences and implications for violent conflict. The paper attempts a new conceptual explanation of how natural resource rents dialectically generate stakes, stakeholders and political conflict. The paper concludes by proposing the need for the more conflict-prone African rentier states to transition to a more functional state model, the transformative state.

The objective of this thesis is to analyze the Iraqi politics of oil in the period from 20 th century onwards. Within this regard, while &ldquo / rentier state&rdquo / conception is generally put under consideration to understand the state&rsquo / s centrality in political, economic and social spheres of oil &ndash / producing countries, contrary to this conventional approach,this thesis argues that the key to all achievements and all failures of Iraqi state is related to the status of oil in Iraq&rsquo / s engagement with the superpowers and the attractiveness of Iraqi oil for other external actors like international non-state actors and multinational companies. In the first instance, the engagement of Britain and later on, the inclusion of the U.S to the national, regional and international affairs of Iraq are discussed within the boundaries of the aforementioned argument. The role of oil in the creation of the state, in its relations with neighbour countries and in relations conducted with the super powers of the international system is analyzed. Within this context, in the aftermath of the September 11, the U.S&rsquo / s intense desires for regime change in Iraq is analyzed to reveal that the main motivation behind the invasion of Iraq in 2003 is related with the country&rsquo / s vast oil resources. In the similar vein, the developments in the post- invasion period are analyzed to indicate the prevailing prominent role of oil. Eventually, this thesis states that even though changes and continuities occur in the course of time and accordingly divergences and convergences exist in the implementations of the Iraqi state, the issue of guaranteeing the flow of oil at reasonable price has remained in the focal point of the external interventions to Iraq.

No description available.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which was adopted in 1979, and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action have generated global and regional momentum in the advance of equal gender opportunities. This research explores the increased presence of women in higher education and their subsequent entry into the workforce in the United Arab Emirates. The government has attempted to reduce its citizens' dependency on public sector employment and promote opportunities in the private sector. Governmental efforts have included improving the education system, granting women access to education and introducing funding schemes to encourage employment initiatives. Yet, despite these efforts, unemployment across the UAE remains at a high level, with public sector favoured by Emirati nationals. The country's drive to nationalise the labour force reflects the necessity of utilising the capabilities of Emirati nationals, both men and women, to diversify the rentier state economy. Emiratisation is a national government strategy in the United Arab Emirates that aims to reduce the country's reliance on expatriate labour and increase the participation of nationals in the labour market, both in the public and private sectors. The research for this thesis begins by exploring the inadequacy of classical rentier state theory and examining Mathew Gray's theory of late rentierism within the context of the United Arab Emirates. It further builds on the late rentierism model with a particular focus on the role of women, education and youth participation. The methodological approach used in this research is primarily qualitative, including interviews with final year university students, and professionals in the banking sector of both sexes. These groups were chosen to highlight the practical implications of governmental Emiratisation policies aiming to increase job opportunities across the United Arab Emirates. To date, very little research has been conducted on the issues of gender, work life balance policies and new workforce trends in the UAE.