ABSTRACT
Recent scholarship focused on the political economy of the Middle East has drawn attention to how resources, political access, and economic opportunities are distributed across societies. This chapter reviews research related to patronage in the context of electoral authoritarianism, welfare state institutions in both wealthy and less wealthy countries, and distributive channels associated with sectarian political systems. I argue that this scholarship helps to bridge the gap between area studies and a larger literature on distributive politics within the field of political economy.
