Rentier welfare states in hydrocarbon-based economies: Brunei Darussalam and Islamic Republic of Iran in comparative context

Welfare statism should not be a patent for the Western world. This article aims to grasp lessons learnt from two resource-abundant nations in Asia, that is Brunei Darussalam and Islamic Republic of Iran, regarding their ideologies of social policy formulation and welfare provision, in a forward-moving political and economic context. In the process of struggling over a non-Euro-centred typology of welfare state, calling for pluralism, civil society and democratic participation for the Islamic rentier welfare state with the history of absolute monarchy met heavy opposition from the conservative forces and groups with vested interests, even though in the post-revolutionary era.