Cover -- Hydrocarbon Citizens -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Why Do Hydrocarbon Citizens Think Differently about Their Government? -- 3. Hydrocarbon Citizens and Government Performance in the Middle East -- 4. A Passion in the Desert: How Saudi Arabians View Government Performance -- 5. A Gush of Oil and a Trickle: Loyalty in the UAE and Discontent in Jordan -- 6. Seeds of Doubt: Democratic Attitudes and the Politics of Hydrocarbon Citizens -- 7. Conclusion -- Appendix: Survey Details and Methodology -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary
In Hydrocarbon Citizens, Nimah Mazaheri tells the story of how the discovery of oil dramatically transformed politics and society in the Middle East. Including historical evidence and public opinion surveys, Mazaheri offers a nuanced description of how ordinary people in the region think about their government and evaluate national politics. He concludes that people in oil-rich countries adopt attitudes, beliefs, and values that are very different from those among citizens in oil-poor countries. Mazaheri provides a new way of thinking about current politics in the Middle East and explains why
