This book will investigate how the volatile hydrocarbon prices influence the military spending of the Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Iran and whether this influences their decisions to build up their armed forces. Jarosław Jarząbek intends to examine whether rentier states expand their armed forces more intensively and if these states become bolder and more aggressive in periods of high energy prices in order to discount temporary profits. This book builds upon previous research on the relationship between rentierism and militarization, as well as on the analysis and synthesis of primary macroeconomic data and data on military spending and military potential.

Jarosław Jarząbek is an Associate Professor at the Institute of International and Security Studies at the University of Wrocław. He obtained his master's degree in international relations in 2003, doctorate in political science in 2007 and habilitation in 2019 at the University of Wrocław. His research interests include security policy, political systems and armed forces of Middle Eastern states, international relations in this region, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Palestinians' independence aspirations. Recently, his research has focused on the militarization of the Persian Gulf subregion, the military spending of local states and the relationship between revenues from hydrocarbon exports and international politics. He is an author and co-author of four monographs and nearly fifty journal articles and book chapters. These include publications related to research on the influence of volatile energy resources prices on the military capabilities of states, such as articles G.C.C. Military Spending in Era of Low Oil Prices; The Dependence of Gulf Countries on Hydrocarbons Export - a Perspective of Regional Security Complex Theory; All the Money Can Buy. Saudi Arabian Armed Forces; a monograph (in Polish) Militarization of the Persian Gulf Subregion in the Perspective of the Regional Security Complex Theory. J. Jarząbek also has almost twenty years of experience in teaching, including subjects related to the Middle East, the politics of security, and the theory of international relations.