Foreign Relations Of The Gcc Countries

This book examines the foreign policies of the GCC countries six years after the Arab uprisings, in terms of drivers, narratives, actions and outcomes, paying particular attention to Middle Eastern countries, Iran and Western international powers. The assessment focuses on current affairs, but also contributes to establishing a productive link between empirical studies and the existing theoretical frameworks that help explain the increasing foreign policy activism of the GCC countries. All in all, the articles collected in this book shed light on and provide a more solid and fine-grained understanding of how regional powers like Saudi Arabia, as well as the other smaller GCC countries, act and pursue their interests in an environment full of uncertainty, in the context of changing regional and global dynamics and power distribution. The book brings together the articles published in a Special Issue of the International Spectator.

This book examines the Arab states of the Persian Gulf including: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, The United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Oman; with a focus on their security, reform and U.S. relations.

This book offers insight into the motives behind Moscow’s behaviour in the Persian Gulf (with a specific focus on the GCC member states and Iran), considering Russia’s growing role in the Middle East and its desire to protect national interests using a wide range of means. The book explores the drivers and motivations of the Russian foreign policy in the Gulf region, thus, helping the audience to generate informed prognosis about Moscow’s moves in this area over the next years. In contrast to most studies of Russia’s presence in the region, this book considers the Russian involvement in the Gulf from two standpoints – the Russian and foreign. The idea of the book is to take several key problems of Moscow’s presence in the Gulf, each of these to be covered by two authors—Russian and non-Russian scholars, in order to offer the readers alternative visions of Moscow’s policies towards Iran and the GCC countries

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), made up of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is one of the most resilient sub-regional organizations in the world, and the most successful in the Arab world. it has been the forum through which much security cooperation in this volatile sub-region has taken place, as well as the main representative for the UAE's territorial dispute with Iran over the Abu Musa and tunbs islands. the organization aims to enhance defence cooperation between its member states. it also has significant potential to foster economic integration and to present an alternative form of leverage over the international oil markets. Very little is known however about how the organization really works: how decisions are actually taken, as opposed to how this process is formally articulated in its charter, and what the GCC's real impact on member states, the gulf and international relations is.Drawing on cutting-edge ir theoretical perspectives as well as unique firsthand access to GCC decision-makers, Matteo Legrenzi explains the mechanisms of Gulf cooperation - and its limitations - in the context of economic globalization, diplomatic regionalization and the rise of Iran. Combining historical context, primary source investigations and theoretical analysis, this is a comprehensive guide to the GCC and an indispensable resource for anyone concerned with the Gulf and the Middle East.

This book provides a comprehensive assessment of the various dimensions of the relationship between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council, and highlights how relations are yet to reach their full potential. Despite both parties sharing a number of common interests, including trade, energy, climate change, security and cultural cooperation, the multilateral cooperation framework remains limited, with most engagement taking place bilaterally, between individual European and GCC countries. The book reassesses the potential and prospects for the EU’s engagement with GCC countries based on the recalibration and reconciliation of both parties’ national and regional interests. Taking a thematic approach, each of the three sections of the book examines a key dimension of the relationship, its current status and its path forward.

This book examines the changing image of the Arab Gulf States in the West. It addresses the question of perception in international relations and how the Arab States of the Gulf have pursued various endeavors to project themselves into Western imagination. The book chapters generate ideas on how perceptions came about and ways to improve cultural and political realities on the ground in the Arab Gulf States. Thus, it paves the way for a new area of research in the field of Gulf Studies that extends beyond traditional international relations frameworks by weaving elements of intercultural communication into the mix. Recognizing, yet extending beyond, a traditionally realist framework, which has dominated the analysis of Arab Gulf States' foreign relations with western countries, this book tackles both the materialist and the symbolic in the efforts and initiatives launched by the Arab Gulf States. Some chapters maintain a social-scientific approach about the politics of the Arab Gulf States in the West from an international relations lens. Others employ theoretical frameworks that were founded on the notion of the "encounter," with anthropological lenses and concepts of intercultural communication. In addition to the value of this academic research agenda, as such, some of the chapters also touch upon the added importance of policy-oriented input. As the Arab Gulf States actively engage with the West, the book would widely appeal to students and researchers of Gulf politics and international relations.

If there has been a gap in the knowledge of the GCC, this book now fills it. This volume presents the essential information schematically, with sound comment by the author, and includes a rich collection of documents.

The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the emergence, political economy and foreign relations of Japan’s relations with the Middle East, with an emphasis on its relations with the states in the Gulf Region. It offers both country specific case studies and thematic chapters, providing comprehensive study on Japan’s relations with the Gulf and the wider Middle East. Japan enjoys a strategic partnership with the Arab Gulf countries in terms of its energy trade, yet this has morphed into a wider trading relationship with the wider Middle East. The book studies Japan’s relations with Israel, Egypt and Turkey, covering security, the oil sector and the LNG sector Middle East. This will allow this book to go beyond its rich analytical and empirical content.