The theory of the “rentier state” says that countries that receive substantial amounts of oil revenues from the outside world on a regular basis tend to become autonomous from their societies, unaccountable to their citizens, and autocratic. The theory is used to help explain why Iran, the Gulf States, many African states ( Nigeria, Gabon) and other countries (e.g., Netherlands) with abundant resource wealth perform less well than their resource-poor counterparts. How does this happen, according to the rentier state theory? The short answer, according to Yates (1), is that a rentier state and rentier economy lead to a rentier mentality, which dooms a country’s economy and long-term prospects.