The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

Living Edition
| Editors: Palgrave Macmillan

Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Kuwait and Qatar

  • Jill Crystal
Living reference work entry
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2894-1
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Abstract

The discovery of oil in the early 20th century had a dramatic effect on the formation and destruction of political coalitions and state institutions in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. In particular, it fundamentally restructured the relationship between the rulers of the Gulf’s sheikhdoms and the merchants, the business elite of that era, shifting political power away from the merchants and into the hands of the rulers and ruling families. In the process, oil dramatically restructured politics and economics, creating new alliances and institutions that would continue to shape politics into the 21st century. The details of this initial arrangement in Kuwait and Qatar are developed in Crystal (1995).

Keywords

Kuwait Oil Persian Gulf Politics Qatar 

JEL Classifications

L710 O130 Q350 
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jill Crystal
    • 1
  1. 1.