Investigating the Rentier Governments’ Formation Factors in the Persian Gulf Region

Undoubtedly, oil is the most important and yet the most political commodity in today's world. The phenomenon of Rent or Rentier or collector government was taken into consideration by researchers and scholars in politics and sociology, especially with the emergence of oil as a cause of creation of Rentier governments. Rent can be considered as some revenue that is not like benefit and wage and is not the result of economic activities; it is being achieved without effort and Rentier government is a government that more than 42% of its revenue comes from external Rents. Hence, most countries in the Persian Gulf due to their geographical location, over the past few decades, have experienced single-based economies, based on producing and selling oil and this issue has resulted in formation of Rentier governments in the region. This article seeks to demonstrate the geographical factors influencing the formation of Rentier governments and the impact of these governments (oil-based economies) on the geopolitical situation of regional countries (their political- spatial order and their geo-economical situation, competition of powers, regional convergence) and at the end it has concluded that despite the fact that oil- based economy (or oil revenue) has led to the development of agriculture in the Persian Gulf, but on one hand, it has led to competition between powers and expansion of militarism in the Persian Gulf and on the other hand, as a very important factor it has prevented formation of regionalism in this region.