GCC Countries

Bahrain

Kuwait

Oman

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates
Regional Coverage
Iran
Iraq
Yemen

One of GRC's main activities is the study of social science in a Gulf region context. The Center is particularly concerned with the international relations and politics of the GCC states.

GRC has identified more than 50 areas of critical research that are necessary to address the current information deficit (see diagram opposite). We describe these areas as research programs. Each program aims to cover a specific issue in as much detail as possible. In many cases, the Center has identified bilateral relations which may not have been fully addressed. This presents the Center and its extensive community of contributors with the significant challenge of shedding light on unexplored relationships between the GCC states and the world at large.

Our research interests are not restricted to international relations but also include domestic and regional issues which affect the political, economic, security and societal life of the GCC member states.

Research Program Structure

Each research program has a dedicated web portal which contains all the resources necessary for a sound understanding of each issue, including:

Resources	Latest News	External Resources
Books Research Papers Call for Papers Newsletters Multimedia	Press Agencies Newspapers Magazines Broadcasting	Books Research Papers Articles Reports Theses Statements
Background Information	Events	Experts
Treaties & Agreements Statistics Useful Links	Conferences Workshops Lectures	GCC Experts External Experts

GCC Political Systems

Political systems prevail in all countries around the world but they differ in their structures, functions and legality. This site provides comprehensive data and information on the political systems in the GCC systems and highlights differences and similarities in all branches of these political entities, such as constitutions,

GCC Foreign Relations

A main focus of the GRC research programs is the interaction of the Gulf States with the rest of the world both regionally in the wider Middle East and globally with a host of international powers. Within this research area, GCC foreign relations with a number of countries and regions are analyzed in order to be able to adequately and...

GCC Defense and Security Issues

The Gulf region is considered one of the most important and strategically vital regions in the world and it is also the most unstable and problematic region in terms of international security. The fact that this region was the scene of three major wars within the last two decades in addition to being the battle ground for the ongoing war against...

GCC Economic Issues

The GCC’s economic situation is unique: no other region in the world has such a small population in possession of such large hydrocarbon reserves, and a population that relies so heavily on non-national labor. In varying degrees, all GCC nations are seeking to reduce their economic dependence on oil and gas. To have economic policies that...

Gulf Energy Program

The Arabian Gulf has long been characterized by its abundant endowments of oil and gas.Collectively the GCC States possess more than two-fifths of the world's proven oil reserves and currently produce approximately one-fifth of total global production. Their combined refining capacity is 4.2 percent of the world total. Saudi Arabia is the world's...

Science and Technology in the Gulf

Science and Technology (S&T) is increasingly impacting all aspects of life. In fact, it has become a major strategy for developed and developing countries to seek socio-economic development through S&T and utilize a wide variety of scientific know-how to build their capacity to respond to continually changing economic, social, and...

GCC Social Issues

This portal covers the social affairs in the GCC countries and excludes politics and economics as there are pertinent pages which have been devoted for them. Therefore, it covers the other social aspects that are of special importance to the region, such as history, culture, migration, women, education and media. Under these main divisions, the...