19
should be clear in explaining the relevant set of larger cases and justification of the
measurements/selections made. A focus on measurement types may also help delineate sub-
sets of rentier cases (Southern Caucuses, small Gulf States, Central Africa, Levant, etc) to
provide analyses and tests of similar mechanisms albeit under different contexts.
Conclusion
Incorporating pre-rent variables, patterns of regional conflict, and different rent
types offers a number of ways to expand the rentier/resource curse debate. This expansion
could greatly benefit from coordination among different research strategies--large-n tests,
cross-regional case studies, historical case studies, and micro-level comparisons. Thus at one
level the historical availability of exogenous rent in the Middle East region can be viewed as
one comparative factor influencing the adoption of revenue satisfying strategies. More fine
grained analyses can show that though satisfying strategies seem to be the regional norm,
rulers have created and maintained ruling coalitions in importantly different ways. Further
research along these lines could help define sub-sets of rentier cases or new historical
observations to be studied, craft more nuanced measures of the sources of exogenous rent,
and develop and test more complex causal mechanisms.
Though the finite quality of mineral resources and fickle foreign aid leaves the
impression rentier states will eventually disappear, the rentier literature enjoys the advantage
of being tested against the (re)creation of rentier states. Already discovered reserves among
the Southern Caucuses countries are currently creating new oil-state there, while suspected
undiscovered reserves in countries like Yemen and Somalia could radically alter domestic
conditions. One could even argue that the US invasion of Iraq has created the conditions
for a replay of Iraqi independence and the recreation of a rentier state there. In any case, the
promises and peril of resource endowment, just like the advantages and disadvantages of late
development, are here to stay.
Convention