Kurdistan Regional Government: An Assessment within the Frame of the Rentier State Approach

Rentier state approach defines the states that acquire their whole income only through a natural resource. These states present an authoritarian type of profile and their people have a passive stance in terms of political/economic issues. When we assess Kurdistan Regional Government according to the rentier state approach, we could define this region as a rentier type of administration, however, not an independent state. For why economic development is fully dependent to oil production and exportation, industrial production could be seen as a minute amount and the most significant employer is the regional administration. Regional government, which has articulated vast majority of Kurdish tribes to its political will and has ignored pluralism, consolidates the rentier type of administration by the reference of Kurdish independence and the emphasis on regional security.