Rent Distribution Modes in Azerbaijan and Belarus: Implications for the Opposition

The study uses the theoretical framework of rentier states to compare the political economies of Belarus and Azerbaijan and the differing conditions created for the political opposition. It conducts a comparative analysis of the structural and agency factors affecting these conditions, focusing on the sources, control and the mode of distribution of rents in the two states. While both states combine post-Soviet legacies with rentier economies, they have different sources of rents. The study shows a ‘converging divergence’ of these two rentier states, based on the analysis of their type (pure rentier or semi-rentier state) and demonstrates the role of power transition in determining the distribution of rents. The combination of these variables, in turn, shapes different types of regimes—exclusive patronage in Azerbaijan and inclusive distributive rent-seeking in Belarus—and creates different tasks for the political opposition in terms of ideology and forming Western alliances.