The Relationships and Linkages between Demographic Challenge and Rentier State
A rentier state idea is a group of ideas that are used to describe how various countries with significant wealth and natural resources tend to have similar political and economic trajectories. The rentier states rely primarily on taxation and more especially on taxing the oil income, which is the obligation of every taxpayer. The states further spend the revenues that are got from the sale of oil on the repression and placation of the population. Therefore, the result is that the rentier states leave little or no room for the opposition of democracy. As a way of augmenting our understanding of this subject, this study will assess the relationship and linkages between demographic challenge and rentier states. The study will culminate with an assessment of the concepts of the ‘other’ and how aspects of colonialism help us to understand orientalism.
Virtually all the countries in the Middle East or the Gulf are oil-producing and therefore are classified as rentier states. The political, economic and environmental challenges between the countries seem almost similar. While countries such as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria and Kuwait are some of the leading oil producers in the world, they are faced with enormous challenges that have almost led to the classification of problems in these countries as one. The issue of terrorism is synonymous with all the countries mentioned above, and despite the vast reserves of oil in these countries, the states have remained behind in economic development and suffered significantly from terrorist attacks and other economic challenges. The reason as to why it is only countries within this region that have been affected by the scourge of terrorism and not any other part of the world has often remained a mystery. The answer to this question, however, remains in the substantial oil reserves, which have been the biggest battlefields and source of all terrorist attacks.
How the Concepts of “The Other” And Colonialism Help Us to Understand Orientalism
The concept of ‘the other’ and colonialism enable us to understand orientalism by virtual of the fact that it is the vast reservoirs of oil in these countries, which have instigated wars and made these areas a terrorist battlefield. Greedy colonialists have been putting countries against one another in the fight for resources, while they benefit significantly from these wars by siphoning oil from the fields as the countries battle in the war. For instance, Saudi Arabia has an affiliation to England and the United States, while Iran is not affiliated to either. Therefore, the United States and England have been using Saudi Arabia to fight Iran even though they are neighbors in an attempt to have control over some of the oil resources in this gulf region. The United States and England have therefore been trying to orient the oil resources in this region by placing countries that are supposed to be allies against each other. The above move by some of these countries has led to the emergence of war and terrorist organizations disguised as religious groups who fight a battle that does not belong to them. While the United States and England are benefiting from the war in the Gulf region through indirect control of resources, neighboring countries are fighting each other through their colonialists.