Gulf Politics and Economics in a Changing World

The wave of uprisings that has engulfed the Arab world since 2011 has impacted the Gulf significantly, however much the region appears to have remained unscathed. In Bahrain, the regime cracked down on protestors with the help of Saudi forces, and increasing Gulf tensions with Iran, political chaos in Yemen, and rumblings among unemployed youth throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states all complicate the facade of Gulf stability. In addition, ties with the United States appear to be weakening; regional politics are varied and changing, particularly with the rise of India and China; Gulf governance is often oppressive; and GCC economies are even more tied to rentier practices of distribution to keep populations satisfied and in check.

Gulf Politics and Economics in a Changing World addresses these aspects of political and economic life in the GCC, Iran, and Iraq in order to assess the present situation. It also offers analysis and predictions as to what the future of this important area of the greater Middle East may hold. The volume, which features contributions from some of the best scholars in the field of Gulf studies in the United States, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, provides an in-depth and critical look at the region.

Contents:

• Introduction: The Gulf Enigma (Michael C Hudson)

• The Gulf States and the Economy:

  • The Development Trajectory of the GCC States: An Analysis of Aims and Visions in Current Development Plans (Martin Hvidt)
  • Redesigning the Distributional Bargain in the GCC (Steffen Hertog)
  • State-Business Relations in the Gulf: The Role of Business Actors in the Decision-Making Process of Reform in Bahrain and Oman (Marc Valeri)

• Gulf Governance:

  • The Rule of Law and Political Liberalization in the Arab Gulf (David M Mednicoff and Joanne E Springer)
  • The Dynamics of Distribution in the Gulf: Selective Allocations, Agency, and Bureaucratic Accessibility in Kuwait (James C A Redman)

• The Gulf and Beyond: Relations and Tensions:

  • Rethinking Regional Organization in the Gulf and the Greater Middle East (Malik R Dahlan)
  • Sources of Continuity in Iran's Foreign Policy (Mahmood Sariolghalam)

• The United States and the Gulf:

  • American Policy in the Persian Gulf: From Balance of Power to Failed Hegemony (F Gregory Gause, III)
  • Neither East Nor West? The Gulf in a Post-American World (Alain Gresh)
  • US Military Bases in the Gulf and the Dynamics of Redeployment (Degang Sun)

Readership: Undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers who are interested in social, economic and political affairs of the Persian Gulf.
Key Features:

• While many of the current monographs and edited volumes on the Gulf are concerned with one particular issue, such as migrant labor, sectarianism, or rentier economics, Gulf Politics and Economics in a Changing World addresses a cross section of material on the region that is essential to understanding the bigger picture
• The scope of academic analysis is not Western-centric; these arguments will appeal to a large audience interested in the future role of the United States in the Persian Gulf
• A number of the authors are very well known and respected in their field, including F Gregory Gause, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Vermont; Steffen Hertog, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics, and Alain Gresh, Editor of Le Monde Diplomatique