Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

1355

Date

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Sociology

Committee Chair

Seth Abrutyn

Committee Member

Wesley James

Committee Member

Junmin Wang

Abstract

Social scientists believe that rentier economies have a negative impact on the development of a democratic political system. This study fills an existing gap in research through focusing on the interaction between oil rent, the behavior of the political elite, and the civil sphere in Iraq through examining the period between 1950-1958. I concluded that, first; in Iraq, rent generated from oil had provided the resources for the state to oppress the political, social, and cultural opposition in all of their forms. Second, depending on the nature of the economic system, and a variety of internal and external factors, oil could generate different outcomes in rentier states. And finally, the battle for democracy is fought in the civil sphere, and the hegemonic development is the product of a long process of political, economic, and social action.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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