Analyzing the functions of civil society in eroding the rentier social contract and reconstructing the concept of citizenship

Abstract

Rentier states, by relying on revenues derived from natural resources rather than citizen taxation, construct a distinctive rentier social contract, ideally exchanging welfare provisions and subsidies for political loyalty. In such systems, a patrimonial rather than democratic social contract emerges, reducing citizens to passive clients and undermining the fundamental principles of democratic governance, such as transparency and accountability. Where citizenship is degraded to clientelism and rights are treated as revocable privileges, civil society is not merely an amalgam of service-oriented organizations; it becomes a hegemonic battlefield in the Gramscian sense—potentially transcending its conventional intermediary role and emerging as a workshop for constructing alternatives. Therefore, this article, employing a qualitative approach, argues that the primary function of civil society in rentier states is not necessarily to engage in direct power struggles (a war of manoeuvre), but rather to conduct a protracted war of position aimed at eroding the ideological and/or cultural foundations of the rentier order. The  findings prove that the success of civil society in such contexts is not measured by immediate political changes, but by its ability to reshape the societal “software”—transforming the citizen’s identity from a passive beneficiary to an active, rights-bearing agent. It is through this transformative function that civil societies lay the human and institutional foundations necessary for meaningful political transitions during critical junctures.