This article presents an analysis of two post-Soviet states, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, which can be identified as post-Soviet rentier states. Both countries are characterised economically by enormous national resources of gas and oil and low economic diversification as well as politically by strong autocratic presidentialism with neopatrimonial structures. These two factors, combined with further post-Soviet legacies such as a low level of political interest in the respective societies and a basically hierarchical orientation of the population, lead to a specific post-Soviet variety of rentierism. From a political science perspective, this article reveals the impact of resource policies on these comparably new political systems and concludes with a summary of core features of these post-Soviet rentier states. THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS AN ANALYSIS OF TWO post-Soviet states, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, which we identify and analyse as post-Soviet rentier states (PSRS). In order to understand the particular political systems of both of these countries, it is necessary to take a closer look at the interrelation between resource incomes and resource policy, as well as the polity (the institutional frame) and politics (the decisionmaking processes) of these countries. 1 Both countries share similarities and structural parallels that are especially apparent in post-Soviet states in the region around the Caspian Sea. To begin with, we see similarities in the presidential, autocratic, neopatrimonial and centralised political systems of both countries. Secondly, we see similarities in the structures of traditional social relations of clan, tribe and family, which find their roots in the pre-Soviet era (Collins 2002). Finally, we find weakly developed national identities, due to 70 years of 1 Our research is based on the project 'Political and Economic Challenges of Resource-Based Development in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan', funded by VW-Foundation. This project is based at the University of Kiel. For further information visit http://www.razkaz.uni-kiel.de.