Trifter

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Libya is in many ways unlike the Western states, and it is interesting to try to understand why. The notion Westerners and some Middle Easterners have, that Libya is a maverick, out on a limb, beyond explanation or reasonable argument, is mistaken. Libya is unusual but not unique. It belongs to a class of societies whose rulers get more than 90 percent of their revenue from petroleum; it is a small but general category which may reasonably be called ‘hydrocarbon society’.

The distinguishing characteristics of this type of society are that the state gets revenue by taxing third parties and that the citizens are not very productive.