Hazem Beblawi and Giacomo Luciani have argued that this could create a “rentier mentality,”[4] while political scientist Fareed Zakaria has posited that such states fail to develop politically because, in the absence of taxes, citizens have less incentive to place pressure on the government to become responsive to their needs. Instead, the government essentially 'bribes' the citizenry with extensive social welfare programs, becoming an allocation or distributive state. The budget, in effect, is little more than an expenditure programme.[10]
It has also been theorized that governments that rely to a significant extent on revenues from non-market sources are not compelled to apply free market principles to create an environment conducive to economic growth. Oil is in such demand that it does not require adherence to free market principles and economic freedom based on rule of law, security, a fair and transparent judiciary and property rights does not have to be nurtured. As a consequence, political freedom does not develop and efforts aimed at democratization are undermined.