The six oil-rich Persian Gulf monarchies have surpassed numerous development milestones. Their oil exports have funded hyper-modern cities and connected them to the world with enviable infrastructure. The same resource has produced citizens who are healthy, wealthy, and highly educated.

So, what’s the next step in the evolution of a rentier autocracy? Karen Young’s new book suggests it’s to redirect their patronage-fueled development models outward, using oil rents to buy regional influence, particularly among the poorer states of the Middle East and Africa.

Young, a political scientist with Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and the Middle East Institute, exposes these flows in foreign aid, loans, and investment. The book feels like a wiring diagram of connections between governments, banks, energy firms, and big engineering contractors. But it’s a readable one, offering interesting anecdotes that drive understanding of these networks. Young’s experience teaching in Sharjah and running courses for...

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