The rentier model is said to result in a particularly distorted model of economic development, wherein spending on consumption-driven activities creates impressions of prosperity, and capital accumulation takes precedence as the principal aspiration. In parallel, patronage networks, commercial agency right provision, and kafala shape class formation; thereby engineering a vertical segmentation that renders people either as disposable labour or eager consumers. Resultantly, once vibrant and communal societies become blunted by hyperconsumerism and prejudice, becoming prone to stagnation or – at worst – regression.

Adapted from Adam Hanieh – Capital, Labor, and State: Rethinking the Political Economy of Oil in the Gulf