Prior to the 20th century, the Middle Eastern nations could easily have been categorized as third world countries. It was not until the early 1930’s that oil production was begun and not until the mid-century that oil became an important commodity in the world market. Thus, the Middle Eastern countries experienced a huge influx of capital. This wealth had a major impact on the Middle East, yet most Middle Eastern countries still retain a Third …showed first 75 words of 2198 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2198 total…the Middle East, London, 1996, pp. 315-27. Abbas al-Nasrawi, ‘The Arab economies; twenty years of change and dependency’, Arab Studies Quarterly, 9, 1987, pp. 357-382. P Nore and T Turner (eds.) Oil and Class Struggle, 1980 Joe Stork, Middle East Oil and the Energy Crisis, 1975 Charles Issawi, An Economic History of the ME and N Africa, 1982, Chapter X. Ian Skeet , OPEC : twenty-five years of prices and politics, (1988) Hazem Beblawi and Giacomo Luciani (eds), The Rentier State, London, 1987, Chapters 2 and 4.