ABSTRACT
The concept of a rentier state gains renewed interest with the advent of the oil era and the emergence of the new Arab oil-producing states. The purpose of an attempt to define a rentier state is not to reach an abstract notion of state but to help elucidate the impact of recent economic developments, in particular the oil phenomenon, on the nature of the state in the Arab region. The main features of a rentier state are characterised to emphasise that the choice of such concept is based on the assumption that such an economy creates a specific mentality: a rentier mentality. The predominance of the oil phenomenon on the whole region is, however, such that many non-oil Arab states are showing increasing signs not dissimilar to those witnessed in oil states. The impact of oil has been so pre-eminent that it is not unrealistic to refer to the present era of Arab history as the oil era.
