Financial Rentierism in Brazil and Russia: Rents, Welfare, and Opportunity

• In Event: Rethinking Rentierism: Global Perspectives, Changing Realities (Virtual Session)

Abstract

The rentier state thesis holds that people trade political acquiescence for comprehensive social welfare. But this model proves inadequate for understanding political outcomes in resource-rich emerging markets in the twenty-first century. The paper draws on research comparing the distribution of natural resource revenues in Brazil under the Worker's Party government (2003-2016) and its successors, with that in Russia under Vladimir Putin's leadership (1999-present). Both economies benefited from the commodity price boom that occurred in this time period, and both political systems underwent autocratization, but neither government provided social welfare benefits that clearly meet the expectations of the traditional rentier state thesis. Instead, the paper argues for a new concept, financial rentierism, to describe the use of resource rents to finance high-technology prestige projects and augment individual opportunities for economic advancement.

Author

• Amanda Leigh Zadorian, Oberlin College