 Resource nationalism: models from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)Neil Quilliam and Tom Najem Chapter 2 in Handbook of Resource Nationalism, 2026, pp 27-50 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: This chapter provides a survey of how the various countries of the MENA region employ the concept of resource nationalism to transform their respective internal and external political, economic, and geo-strategic environments. Resource nationalism refers to the policy or approach by which a country seeks to exert control over its natural resources, such as oil and gas, to maximize economic benefits for the state. This often involves the nationalization of resource industries, and limits to foreign ownership. There are at least four discernible approaches or models that MENA states adopt when governing national oil and gas. The GCC countries achieved relative success in managing their hydrocarbon wealth due to a rare combination of internal stability, strategic alliances with Western powers, and massive resource wealth coupled with small populations. Conversely, instability, conflict, and sanctions severely undermined the effectiveness of resource nationalism in countries like Iraq, Libya, Algeria, and Iran. Keywords: National Oil Companies; OPEC; Middle East and North Africa; Social Contract; Passive Resource Nationalism; Mediated Resource Nationalism (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23362_2 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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