Middle East Briefs
Parallel to the Center’s scholarly work, Middle East Briefs provides a brief analysis of a single issue at the top of the region’s political, social, or economic agenda. Targeted primarily at decision-makers and opinion leaders, the publication was launched in 2005.
Latest Brief
March 2025 – The New Rentierism in the Middle East: How Gulf Oil Wealth Has Kept Democracy at Bay since 2011
Killian Clarke
Middle East Brief 164 (Summary) —Why have so many democratic uprisings in the Middle East failed to bring lasting political change? In our latest Middle East Brief, Killian Clarke argues that oil wealth is a major reason authoritarian regimes have held onto power—though not for the reasons usually raised. Since 2011, a new form of “rentierism” has emerged. Countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE use their oil abundance not just to insulate their own populations from demands for political change but to actively undermine democratic movements across the region. By providing weapons and aid to autocratic incumbents and deploying their own military forces, these oil-rich states have become powerful agents of counterrevolution, ensuring the persistence of authoritarian rule.
Killian Clarke is an assistant professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a faculty leave fellow at the Crown Center.