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Week 9 The Gulf Cooperation Council and Regional Security - Coggle Diagram
Week 9
The Gulf Cooperation Council and Regional Security
Defining the Gulf and overview of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council
Whose Gulf?
'Arab' or 'Persian' Gulf?
The British withdrawal and the emergence of the Gulf as a sub-regional system
Other regional actors affecting Gulf Security: Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Israel
The GCC: Origins and Formation
formed May 1981 in response to emerging regional threats
Iranian Revolution and fear of 'exporting the revolution' and Saddam Hussein's ambitions
this, along with Iran-Iraq War in September 1980 seemed to herald unstable Gulf
attempted coup in Bahrain Dec 1981 directly linked to Iran, confirmed intention to make the GCC a viable organisation
Membership
6 states were founding members: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE
Secretaries-General to date have been from each of the countries, except Oman
Based in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)
30% plus of world's oil
Dilemmas of Expansion
cohesion through to come from common social and political histories
Yemen has been discussed since at least 1999 but it would bring a vast and impoverished population
Iraq was briefly considered after the overthrow of Saddam 2003 but tense relations between Shi'i dominated gov in Baghdad and the other Sunni regimes have dampened this idea
intriguingly in 2011, 2 new additions were thought to be possible: Jordan and Morocco
the 2 remaining monarchies in the middle east
a 'monarchs' club'?
Jordan has requested membership as long as 1996
GCC Security
Attempts of Security Cooperation
1986 GCC created a collective defence force - Peninsula Shield based in Saudi Arabia
Symbolic power from the 6 countties
Participated in the operation desert storm 1991 but highly ineffective
2006 King Abdullah proposed to expand the shield to bolster regional security - opposition from Oman and scepticism from other Gulf states
GCC members signed an intelligence sharing pact 2004 aimed at countering terrorism
Reliance on the US
continued US 'security umbrella' is the real form of regional defence but there are disagreements over how close the US alliance should be:
on the one hand, GCC expects it to be there when needed
on the other hand, wants to reduce external intrusion into their societies
individual militaries cooperate more with US military than with each other
Gulf Security: From the Outside In
the British Empire and its withdrawal 1971
the US penetration in the region:
twin pillar policy until 1979 (Iran and Saudi Arabia)
Dual containment from 1979 (Iran and Iraq)
US withdrawal from the region under Obama doctrine followed by Trump
US withdrawal from the Middle East: Perception or Reality?
Security: a contested concept
security as synonymous of physical survival of states: objective sense (absence of threats)
security as intersubjective outcome of interactions between actors with different identities: subjective sense (absence of fear)
whose security? state vs regime security or human, environmental, economic, security
security is always relative
Contending perspectives of Gulf Security
Material explanations
Ideational explanations
regime security explanations
1. Material explanations of Gulf Security
security dilemma
the GCC is a balance of threat case
regional penetration
2. Ideational Explanations
the gulf as a geopolitical invention = security communities (Adler and Barnett 1998)
regional security complex theory (Buzan and Waever 2003)
constructivism and the role of identity in the international relations of the Gulf
Instability - contrasting perceptions of security based on identity
Rivalry in the Gulf from an ideational perspective
Saudi-Iranian Rivalry
the rivalry is a struggle over the normative order in the Perisan Gulf
Conservative vs Revolutionary systems
the Sunni-Shiite divide as source of security
Qatari-Saudi crisis
contrasting perceptions of security
hierarchy and status in the region
small states punching above their weight
Divergent Perception of Threats
Failed states: Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya
Terrorism: Al-Qa'ida, ISIS
Other non-state actors: Hamas, Hizbullah, Muslim brotherhood, disagreement between Saudi Arabia and UAE on one hand and Qatar on other, over Muslim brotherhood
Iranian ambitions: involvement in Iraq and Syria, nuclearisation
Weakened regimes as result of internal protest: Jordan, Bahrain
Qatar Diplomatic Crisis 2017
Qatar's ambitious foreign policy in Syria, Libya and Egypt
Economic impact
political impact and future of the GCC
3. Regime Security Perspective: Domestic and International Linkages
state formation in the gulf
elite survival
perception of threats based on domestic vulnerabilities
Regime security 2011
GCC invited Morocco and Jordan to join the organisation
financial assistance to support fellow monarchs
Bahrain: interventionism to protect the Al Khalifa regime in Bahrain (GCC Peninsula Shield Forces)
Summary
approaches to study of Gulf security are myriad
theories provide lenses to explain and enlighten empirical puzzles
theoretical approaches are not mutually exclusive: gulf security lies at the intersection of domestic, regional and international spheres
evolution of gulf security from balance of power to other challenges in the region