The “Resource Curse” in the Persian Gulf

To cite this publication: “The ‘Resource Curse’ in the Persian Gulf,” CIRS Summary Report no. 28 (Doha, Qatar: Center for International and Regional Studies, 2020).

This Summary Report provides an overview of the CIRS research initiative on “The ‘Resource Curse’ in the Persian Gulf.” The project focuses on the veracity of the resource curse thesis explanation for many of the political, social, and economic dynamics in the region in the context of the current downward price cycle. It examines the relationships between resource revenues and democracy; political and economic arrangements; states’ structural foundations and bureaucracies; policy-making; privatization efforts; occupational specialization, urbanization, and education; national security architecture; economic diversification; labor market demographics; regional and international cooperation; social and cultural changes; gender relations; art production; and identity.