Proposing an Institutionalist Conceptual Framework for the Study of Development Issues in Countries with Dependence on Natural Resources

For years researchers have associated the developmental problems of countries possessing natural resources like oil with the very fact of the possession of such resources. The numerous studies of this field have mostly focused on the theories of the Rentier State and the Resource Curse. Today, with the advent of empirical research and theoretical criticism, there is little doubt with regards to the shortcomings of the classic theories of the field. The latest research has also attempted to mitigate the extremes of the classic theories of rentierism which usually cover a limited scope of the suggested outcomes of rentierism, and such theories have not formed a comprehensive and elaborate theory, nor have they presented an appropriate ideal type of the rentier state for historical investigations. The present paper presents a critical survey of the literature on rentierism, focusing on one main question: how can this theory be improved? With respect to this question, at first, rentierism literature will be reviewed, then the institutionalist theory of Douglass North shall be introduced. By recognizing the advantages and disadvantages of both theories, the present paper goes on to formulate new conceptual framework named the "Rentier Limited Access Order". Not only is this framework rooted in both theories, but it also goes beyond them and delivers new insights with which rentier states can be studied.