Beyond Curse and Blessing: Rentier Society in Venezuela

Abstract

This chapter critically reexamines current debates within rentier theory, criticizing the widespread rational choice foundation, the focus on the state and the dichotomy between resource curse and resource blessing. I argue for a realignment of the debate towards a more sociological foundation. Based on an empirical study of Venezuela, I highlight shortcomings in the dominant approaches of rentier theory and illustrate the potential of a new analytical framework to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the common characteristics and case-specific particularities of rentier societies, including state–society relations, mental infrastructures and society–nature realities. By generating a more complex and context-sensitive picture, this framework offers new insights into the legacy of natural resource dependence and the failure to overcome rentierism. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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