Azerbaijan: A Rentier State

Published in 2019. You may have heard of the term rentier state. It means that state budget of a resource-rich country comprises mostly of oil revenues, not taxpayer money or for-profit companies.

The term has been used to describe Arab countries during the oil boom in the 1970s. In a rentier state, the level of influence that people have on the government is significantly reduced.

The role of taxpayers in the budget process is decreased, and so is public participation. Azerbaijan spends its budget like a rentier state without observing accountability and transparency, and with no public participation.