ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the changes Middle East Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) countries underwent during the oil decade as a result of the unexpected influx of capital and advanced technology, of maneuverability and political power in the world arena on a scale Middle East rulers had never known in modern times. It discusses how the oil states of the region exploited their extraordinary wealth. The examination of the influences and changes attributable to the oil factor is made in three contexts: demographic effects, economic and social results and political aspects. Statistical data relate mainly to a selected number of oil states. The increased political power of the Middle East oil states derived largely from the tremendous increase in their economic resources. The "oil effect" left its mark in many parts of the political arena. The change in official Western attitudes toward the oil states and their rulers was, in the latter half of the 1970s, indeed remarkable.
