Publications List

Tourism has gained significant traction among policymakers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as a promising avenue for fostering economic diversification. In the UAE, Dubai has emerged as the top destination for international travelers, with a strong focus on tourism. The city has set ambitious targets, aiming to attract approximately 25 million visitors annually by 2025. Similarly, Abu Dhabi also has its sights set on its Tourism Strategy 2030, aiming to attract approximately 23 million tourists annually by 2030, with a focus on leisure, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) events, and sports tourism. Both cities have prioritized travel safety and health measures, further enhancing their reputation in the tourism industry

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was formed in 1981 between Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and the UAE to enhance their integration, coordination, and interconnection. Over the last few decades, GCC countries have had unmatched economic growth, enabling them to rank among the leading nations based on per capita income. However, fluctuations in oil prices have been the major factors impeding the progress of these oil-dependent economies. Reliance solely on oil & gas sector for economic prosperity is not a sustainable option and hence there is a shift towards economic diversification. It has notably benefited agriculture sector, which is a key pillar of any economy

The GCC countries are promoting energy and power sector by taking initiatives for renewable energy targets such as by 2030, Saudi Arabia wants to use renewable energy to meet half of its energy needs, with gas covering the remaining half, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Energy Strategy 2050 seeks to achieve the country’s economic needs and environmental objectives by utilizing a combination of clean, nuclear, and renewable energy sources. The goal includes 44 percent clean energy, 38 percent gas, 12 percent clean coal and 6 percent nuclear energy by 2050.

The World Bank describes the financial sector as ‘a set of institutions, instruments, markets, as well as the legal and regulatory framework that permit transactions to be made by extending credit. Fundamentally, financial sector development is about overcoming “costs” incurred in the financial system. This process of reducing the costs of acquiring information, enforcing contracts, and making transactions resulted in the emergence of financial contracts, markets, and intermediaries.

According to the World Bank Gulf Economic Update (GEU), the economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are expected to grow at a slower rate in 2023 due to a global economic slowdown and lower oil and gas earnings. In 2023, the GCC is projected to grow by 2.5% and by 3.2% in 2024. In 2022, the region’s GDP grew by an impressive 7.3% due to a substantial increase in oil production. The decline in performance is mainly due to lower hydrocarbon GDP, predicted to decrease by 1.3% in 2023 after the OPEC+ April 2023 production cut announcement. Nonetheless, the non-oil sector’s robust growth, expected to reach 4.6% in 2023, will offset the hydrocarbon activities shortfall, boosted primarily by private consumption, fixed investments, and a more relaxed fiscal policy in response to 2023’s relatively high oil revenues

GCC is a regional organization of six countries—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain—set up in 1981. The alliance was formed to enhance its members’ integration, coordination, and interconnection. Despite a few difficult years (due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Russia–Ukraine war, and the economic downturn), economic diversification efforts encouraged and bolstered industrial innovation in GCC countries in 2021. Most governments have successfully managed to capitalize on the vital aspects of their fiscal reform agendas. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have reiterated their commitments to their fiscal balance programs, which aim to balance their budgets, albeit on dates past the originally planned dates due to changed economic conditions

Infrastructure often refers to the set of systems and facilities that serve a region, and involves the facilities and services necessary for households, organizations, and economy to function. The document splits infrastructure into three types – residential, commercial, and industrial. Under scope of residential infrastructure, the development of various residential areas and residential projects were considered. Under commercial, development of various commercial buildings, water and wastewater facilities, roadways, bridges, transportation facilities and other public infrastructure were considered. Industrial infrastructure covers the development of various industrial areas, free zones, and other related facilities

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have strategically leveraged the power of sports to drive economic diversification, promote cultural change, and enhance their international reputation. This report delves into the dynamic landscape of the GCC sports sector, highlighting how Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in particular, have emerged as key players, steering investments and fostering change. We also examine the evolving priorities, policy reforms, and investment opportunities within the GCC sports sector, alongside the challenges. The GCC’s sports sector promises a dynamic future with significant economic and cultural impacts

The diversification agendas of GCC economies have highlighted the significance of industrials and transportation & logistics sectors as key drivers of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). The sector’s growth is being propelled by several factors, including the expanding role of the nonoil sector in the economy, ongoing infrastructure development, the rise of free trade zones and industrial parks, and increased regional trade collaboration

“Investment Opportunities in Oman” is a comprehensive report about Oman's economic landscape and investment opportunities. The report delves into various sectors of Oman's economy, providing insights into their performance, opportunities, and key trends. It covers a wide range of sectors, including infrastructure, macroeconomics, energy, mining, manufacturing, transportation, aviation, tourism, communications, ports and free zones, food and beverages, education, healthcare, sports, and circular economy. The report also addresses challenges faced by investors in Oman and offers recommendations to overcome these challenges. Overall, the report offers a detailed overview of Oman's economic potential and investment prospects across diverse sectors.

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the defense industries in Saudi Arabia, focusing on the sector in the vision 2030 (Strategies and Pillars), dynamics of demand and Supply in the Sector. The report also highlights on achievements in the Sector in the Past 5 Years and KSA Strategic Partnerships and also the investment opportunities in the defense sector.

GRC August Newsletter 2023

GRC June Newsletter 2023

GRC July Newsletter 2023

Urban Modernity in the Contemporary Gulf offers a timely and engaging discussion on architectural production in the modernization era in the Arabian Peninsula. Focusing on the 20th century as a starting point, the book explores the display of transnational architectural practices resulting in different notions of locality, cosmopolitanism, and modernity. Contextually, with an eye on the present, the book reflects on the initiatives that recently re-engaged with the once ville moderne which, meanwhile, lost its pivotal function and meaning. A city within a bigger city, the urban fabric produced during the modernization era has the potential to narrate the social growth, East–West dynamics, and citizens’ memories of the recent past. Reading obsolescence as an opportunity, the book looks into this topic from a cross-country perspective. It maps, reads and analy- ses the notion of modern heritage in relation to the contemporary city and looks beyond physical transformations to embrace cultural practices and strategies of urban re-appropriation. It interrogates the value of modern architecture in the non-West, examining how academic research is expanding the debate on Gulf urbanism, and describes how practices of reuse could foster rethinking neglected areas, also addressing land consumption in the GCC. Presenting a diverse and geographically inclusive author- ship, which combines established and up-and-coming researchers in the field, this is an important reference for academics and upper-level students interested in heritage studies, post-colonial urbanism, and architecture in the non-West.

This edited volume documents discussions held in the context of the 2018 Gulf Research Meeting held by the Gulf Research Center at the University of Cambridge (UK). It starts from the acknowledgment that there is no widely accepted definition and measure of sustainability. All authors however try to capture not only political and economic factors, but also social and cultural influences on economic reform in GCC countries. While authors have argued in total autonomy from each other and some divergent opinions remain, the thrust of the book is to conclude that some GCC economies have made significant progress toward diversification, reducing exclusive reliance on oil with respect to both composition of GDP and exports. This book also investigates a number of pronounced economic sustainability challenges in the Gulf’s oil producers, in terms of not only the threats to fiscal balances, but also the nationalization and privatization of labor markets, environmental pressures on GCC countries and soaring income inequalities within Gulf countries. This edited volume has four parts, discussing various facets of economic sustainability. In a first part, authors provide a holistic discussion of current trends in, and projections about, the sustainability of oil economies in the Gulf. The second part of this edited volume discusses trends in fiscal sustainability, given the quest, and need, of governments in the Gulf to diversify not just the economy, but especially their revenue base. These chapters also tie in fiscal reforms to the goal of Gulf economies to diversify and to adjust labor market structures. The third part addresses labor market policies and labor market reforms. The fourth part discusses strategies of oil economies toward international climate action

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

In this edited volume, academics and practitioners from various disciplines investigate the challenges, opportunities and frameworks in the implementation of Smart Cities in the Gulf. The volume presents insightful analyses and identifies key lessons learned through case studies covering four main themes, including: smart city frameworks and governance, resources and infrastructure, information and communication technologies, and the social perspective. In doing so, the book provides policy recommendations related to smart governance, as well as overall frameworks that cities can adopt in their process of transition, and knowledge that is integral to bridge the gap between various stakeholders in the Smart City milieu. This edited volume comprises extended versions of papers presented at a workshop titled “Smart Cities in the GCC: Current State, Opportunities and Challenges” held at the 2017 Gulf Research Meeting, which took place at University of Cambridge, UK.

This book examines the relations and 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 endeavours to project themselves into the West. 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 had dominated the analysis of Arab Gulf States foreign relations

This volume explores the challenges to diversification in Gulf countries, which can no longer rely on profits from hydrocarbons to fund national expenditures. It elaborates on the problem of weak institutions, lack of coordination between policy makers and executors, limited investment in research and development, and a workforce that is too poorly skilled to compete in the private sector. In addition to analyzing issues in areas such as education, labor, business, and trade, the contributors underscore the importance of using global best practices to overcome fundamental weaknesses in the Gulf Cooperation Council’s economic structure that limit opportunities for economic diversification.

Among the many strategic and economic issues facing the Gulf in the coming years, those relating to the Indian Ocean are set to be among the most challenging. In the re-ordering of global economic and political power which is currently underway, the Indian Ocean constitutes a key arena for regional and global competition and rivalry. With the leading Asian powers playing a more proactive role in the region, sometimes with conflicting ambitions, and the United States intent on maintaining its established maritime hegemony there, the potential dangers for the Gulf states are considerable. Gulf economic interests and perhaps regime stability would be severely affected by conflict. This book contends that the Gulf states need to play an active part in the promotion of Indian Ocean stability and security, working with other Indian Ocean states to develop institutional structures and practices which encourage cooperation and provide avenues for conflict resolution. They have everything to gain from such a strategy. This volume is based on a workshop held at the Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Centre Cambridge in summer 2017.

International migration is one of the most ubiquitous realities in the Gulf states nowadays. In many ways, the inexhaustible availability of a foreign labour force has allowed the Gulf nations to become what they are today. Migration has been instrumental in nation-building processes in the Gulf. At the same time, the sheer scale of the phenomenon—with foreign majorities in the workforce as well as in total population of several states—is regarded as a challenge to nationhood. At the other end of the migratory routes, for many countries of origin in South Asia, the Arab world and East Africa, migration to the Gulf is an integral part of the lives of tens of millions and a constitutive element of economies and societies. Following an almost universal rule, host countries regard immigrants as a threat, while source countries view their emigrants as benefactors.

This overview of Bahrain’s regulatory framework of migration is intended to serve as a guide for researchers looking to navigate the set of laws and implementing regulations covering a broad range of migration-related issues from entry and exit conditions to rights and settlement, citizenship, and asylum.

The following note offers an overview of Saudi Arabia’s regulatory framework of migration. It serves as a guide to researchers looking to navigate the system of laws and implementing regulations covering a broad range of migration-related issues from entry/exit conditions to rights, settlement, and citizenship.

The Gulf Research Center Foundation released its 2007-2017 report, covering its activities since its creation in 2007 as a Swiss Non-profit Organisation. The report highlights the projects, events and partnerships that were undertaken by GRCF in the past 10 years and that are based on GRC’s and GRC affiliates’ commitment to contribute to enhance and spread knowledge about the Gulf region

The objective of the paper is to draw a sketch of the population and migration dynamics of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), using the data available from federal and emirate-level statistical bureaus. In 2016, the total population of the UAE was estimated to be 9,121,167, thirty-two times the population counted in 1971, the year the country was established. The Emirate of Fujeirah had the smallest share of foreign nationals in its total population (61 per cent) while Dubai had the largest (91 per cent). Most expatriates were from Asia and especially from India: the India-UAE corridor could be the second largest in the world, and Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani expatriates outnumbered Emirati citizens around 2015. In the employed population, foreign nationals accounted for an even larger share (96 per cent of Dubai’s employed population in 2011). In 2016, federal and local governmental bodies employee figures were as follows: 78.5 per cent Emirati and a mere 6 per cent foreign nationals. Expatriates mostly worked in the private sector (73 per cent), while nationals accounted only for 8.3 per cent. Fifty-two per cent of female expatriates were employed in the domestic sector in 2016. Unlike in other GCC states, a quarter of the working expatriates in the UAE were in managerial posts, employed in a spectrum of activities across all sectors. The number of expatriates shot up during the 2000s, a period of spectacular economic growth propelled by soaring oil prices. Since the financial downturn in 2008, however, the economy has recovered and the hiring of foreign workers is resuming, stimulated by large-scale infrastructure projects, especially in Dubai. Nonetheless, reforms in immigration policies are now being undertaken, fuelled by security concerns, pressures from human rights’ protection bodies, and the need to bolster citizens’ employment (Emiratisation) and upskill the labour force to implement a knowledge-based economy in the country. To that end, the planned introduction of skills certification requirements for migrants by countries of destination is likely to have significant impact on the size and composition of future migration flows, migrants’ activities, and their expectations in terms of rights.

Several countries in the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates and kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are in the process of planning, establishing or expanding their nuclear power programs. The official rationale for investing in nuclear energy differs from one country to another, but broadly speaking, it seems to emerge from the need to improve energy security through reducing the reliance on oil and natural gas to generate electricity and desalinated water. This volume aims to examine the challenges as well as the opportunities associated with the deployment of nuclear power in the region. The key focus areas of this book are the economics of nuclear power; nuclear security and potential for regional cooperation; and technology overview.

This volume focuses on the role of the private sector in diversifying the economics of Gulf countries in the post-petrodollar era, when fluctuating and declining oil prices are negatively impacting national expenditures. It explores current policies of countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council and their efforts to shift their economies away from heavy dependence on hydrocarbons. The structural changes will create favorable conditions for the private sector to flourish, shift production dependence from public to private sector, and allow for more efficient resource allocation. Such changes will also allow local banks to provide financial support to small and medium enterprises, boost entrepreneurship for job creation, and strengthen organizational structure and efficiency.

This paper is an assessment of the limitations of the electronic Wage Protection System (WPS) introduced in four of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. The widespread practice of withholding wages has led to the GCC states introducing a wage protection system where employers are required to make the payments to employees into their bank accounts to ensure an official record of payments that can be monitored.

The following explanatory note outlines the main legislative texts including laws, regulations and cabinet and ministerial decisions, which govern the inward migration of foreigners to the United Arab Emirates and some elements of the outward migration of Emirati citizens.

In a landmark decision by Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud on September 26, 2017, a decree was issued allowing Saudi women to drive motor vehicles. In this short paper, we reflect on the possible impact of this decision on future domestic workers’ immigration trends.

In 2016, Qatar ranked first worldwide in terms of per capita GDP. This is due to its huge hydrocarbon reserves and to the small size of its resident population (2.5 million in June 2017). Exploiting the hydrocarbon resources and channelling them into ambitious development policies required massive imports of foreign labour.

The bitter confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not only stoking conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, but now threatens the stability, security and well-being of the whole Gulf region. All the major global powers have significant interests in this area, and the pursuit of these interests adds further layers of division and conflict. This book goes to the heart of this issue, examining the critical modalities whereby the “Gulf Cold War” can be brought to an end. What is needed, the contributors argue, is the creation of a security community among the states of the Gulf. The processes through which this could be achieved are carefully examined. All those interested in the future and well-being of the Gulf region should give consideration to the perspectives advanced. This volume is based on a workshop held at the Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center Cambridge in summer 2016.

Diversification is the principal economic objective for the Gulf States. The steep and sustained fall in oil prices over the last few years has added to the collective urgency to seek new sources of revenue. As such, the overriding theme of regional economic summits in recent years has focused on the question, “how do we transition to a knowledge-based economy?” This is the central question taken up by the contributors to this volume. A growing body of literature has begun to address how state policy in conjunction with universities, think tanks, and businesses can create the groundwork to support knowledge-intensive industries. But, so far, comparatively little work has been done on the potential of this matrix of policies to succeed in the current political and economic context of the GCC. This volume assesses current policies designed to engender knowledge-based economies in the region and analyzes how a diverse array of actors, including government agencies, national and transnational businesses, universities, and individuals coordinate and mediate the transmission of knowledge to support knowledge-intensive industries. This volume is based on a workshop held at the Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center Cambridge in summer 2015.

As governments across the GCC strive to implement labour policies which accelerate the transition to “post oil” knowledgebased economies, this volume provides insights into the size of this challenge, along with analysis of progress to date. With a comprehensive coverage of the region (each GCC member is included in some respect), this new work provides unique insights into how the domestic policy agenda is shifting the region’s moribund labour markets inexorably towards greater productivity, positivity, sustainability and efficiency. This volume is based on a workshop held at the Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center Cambridge in summer 2016.

Yemen is the only state on the Arabian Peninsula that is not a member of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). It is also the only local state not ruled by a royal family. Relations between Yemen and the GCC states go back for centuries with some tribes in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman tracing genealogy back to ancient Yemen. In this timely volume six scholars analyze Yemen’s relations with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Iran with a focus on recent developments, including the conflict after the fall of Ali Abdullah Salih in Yemen. This volume is based on a workshop held at the Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center Cambridge in summer 2016.

Nearly three million Muslims perform the Haj every year. The Haj pilgrimage, during which Muslims from around the world travel to Makkah in Saudi Arabia to perform religious rites, is considered to be one of the largest gatherings of people in the world. Allah says in the Quran: “Fulfill the pilgrimage and make the visitation for Allah. If you are prevented, then whatever offering that may be easy” (Surat Al- Baqarah, 196). Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims, which must be carried out at least once in a lifetime by every adult Muslim who is physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey. Haj is not just a form of worship, but also a way of understanding the meaning of life. It teaches Muslims equality by bringing together people from different cultures and races to Makkah to worship God. It is well known that Haj is a spiritual and moral journey that helps Muslims to thank Allah for all the blessings. At the same time, protecting and conserving the environment and its natural resources is also a religious duty that all Muslims have to fulfill. However, very often during the Haj season, Muslims do not pay attention to the importance of protecting the environment and natural resources. This paper is structured in four sections: the first section addresses the environmental issues and concerns associated with the Haj; the second section looks at the Saudi efforts to overcome various environmental challenges associated with the Haj; the third section provides some insights into possible options and steps to deal with and alleviate some of the environmental stress associated with the Haj. The concluding section provides a short summary of the points raised earlier.

Sustainability is a topic of great interest today, particularly for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which have witnessed very rapid economic and demographic growth over the past decade. The observed growth has led to unsustainable consumption patterns of vital resources such as water, energy, and food, highlighting the need for an urgent shift towards green growth and sustainable development strategies. Sustainability in the Gulf covers the region’s contemporary development challenges through the lens of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which place sustainability at the centre of the solution to the current environmental, economic, and social imbalances facing GCC countries. The book presents multiple analyses of Gulf-specific sustainability topics, examining the current status, challenges, and opportunities, as well as identifying key lesssons learned. Innovative and practical policy recommendations are provided, as well as new conceptual angles to the evolving academic debates on the post-oil era in the Gulf. Through chapters covering sector-related studies, as well as the socio-economic dimensions of the sustainability paradigm, this volume offers valuable insights into current research efforts made by the GCC states, proposing a way forward based on lessons learned.

The Gulf States are among the most sought-after destinations by global migrants. Part of this migration is irregular, due to five main causes: entering with no proper visa; overstaying once a visa or residence permit has expired; being employed by someone who is not the sponsor; absconding from a sponsor; and being born in the Gulf to parents with an irregular status. The treatment reserved for migrants in an irregular situation marks out the Gulf States. Arrest and detention are widespread practices in spite of constitutional guarantees against arbitrary imprisonment. Staying without a proper visa or absconding from a sponsor is regarded as a criminal act, and foreign nationals who commit such acts are detained in the same prisons as common law criminals with no clear right of recourse. Domestic workers, most of whom are women employed by private households and, therefore, not protected by labour laws which in the Gulf apply only to businesses, are particularly subject to arbitrary sanctions and jail. Lived experiences suggest that migrants may not see their irregular status as being disastrous. Many, in fact, are willing to perpetuate this situation, despite their awareness about possible arrest, jail term, and deportation. A theme that emerges repeatedly in interviews indicates the lack of options open to migrants elsewhere, including their country of origin. Migrants in an irregular situation learn to negotiate the formal and informal spaces and systems they encounter. They have specific goals they want to achieve during their Gulf stay, whatever the cost. Education of their children and building a house in the origin country are paramount among these goals. Most irregular migrants seem to share one characteristic: resilience. As their stay in the Gulf lengthens, they gather enough capacity to exercise their agency to achieve a skilful survival in the face of adversity. A wide-ranging system of mutual benefits constituting win-win situations for varied actors enables and perpetuates irregular migration. The volume has 15 original contributions and is freely available from the GRC and the GLMM websites.

The complex birth of the November 30th agreement within OPEC, and between the latter and some non-OPEC major oil exporters, was the salient oil market event of 2016. The agreement aims at limiting production and stabilizing the global oil market, with the hope that prices might increase somewhat, thus improving the distressed financial conditions of most oil exporting countries.

The GCC economies are at a crossroads. Following low oil prices in 2016, the countries need to accelerate structural reforms to diversify their economies away from hydrocarbons, boost the role of the private sector, and create jobs for their rapidly growing labor force. The envisaged economic transformation, as reflected in country diversification plans, will take time. Careful and steady implementation and prioritization will be key to success. All the GCC countries have issued vision statements over the last few years, which describe their development aspirations either for the medium or long term. These visions guide current and future policy actions necessary for countries to achieve their development goals. The period covered varies by country and timing. The vision documents are well-written and cover different aspects of growth, such as entrepreneurship, small and medium scale development, productivity, nationalization of the workforce, national populations with skilled human capital working in the private sector, and development of high-productivity industries and services based on high-skilled labor and competitiveness.

While the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have confronted numerous and diverse challenges with serious consequences in recent years, the year 2016 can be classified as one of the most challenging years so far. Not only were all GCC countries negatively impacted by the global oil price collapse, but serious political and security challenges and crises swept the region and its Arab geographic surroundings. Taken together, this severely restricted the GCC’s ability to deal with such challenges.

This volume examines the applied and theoretical frames of reference that operate in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and probes the relevant aspects of scale, proportion, and the grounding of education in the Gulf region. The five papers included in this volume discuss elements of policy and curriculum, teachers and teacher identity, students and student identity, and social conditions that affect teaching and learning in the 21st century in the GCC states. Together, these papers raise and discuss issues of critical importance as we plan for education in the GCC for the 21st century.

Small states are often believed to have been resigned to the margins of international politics. However, the recent increase in the number of small states has increased their influence and forced the international community to incorporate some of them into the global governance system. This is particularly evident in the Middle East where small Gulf States have played an important role in the changing dynamics of the region in the last decade. The Small Gulf States analyses the evolution of these states’ foreign and security policies since the Arab Spring. With particular focus on Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, it explores how these states have been successful in not only guaranteeing their survival, but also in increasing their influence in the region. It then discusses the security dilemmas small states face, and suggests a multitude of foreign and security policy options, ranging from autonomy to influence, in order to deal with this. The book also looks at the influence of regional and international actors on the policies of these countries. It concludes with a discussion of the peculiarities and contributions of the Gulf states for the study of small states’ foreign and security policies in general. Providing a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the unique foreign and security policies of the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) before and after the Arab Spring, this book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Middle East studies, foreign policy and international relations.

The Arab states of the Gulf, currently heavily reliant on oil and gas exports, have stated their intention to promote economic diversification and have embarked on reforming existing institutions for higher education, scientific research, and technology innovation. The region has witnessed huge population growth in recent decades, and in some cases (e.g. Saudi Arabia) almost half the population is under the age of twenty-five and in need of access to quality education and meaningful employment opportunities. This book provides an in-depth discussion of what is needed to accelerate the development of science, technology and innovation in the Gulf. Among other issues, the authors discuss the need for regional collaboration, and tackle systemic challenges such as immigration policies, career incentives for GCC citizens, and increased inclusion of women in the workforce.

Egypt continues to be cultural and political beacon in the Middle East. Its control of the Suez Canal, cold peace with Israel, concern about Gaza, mediation and interest in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the marginalization of the Muslim Brotherhood are all points of significance. There is a close, and expanding, defence and security relationship between Egypt and the GCC states, most evident in the inclusion of Egypt in Saudi Arabia’s new Sunni counter-terrorism alliance. The authors of this book contextualise historical linkages, and allies add to this the real postures (especially contentious relations with Qatar and Turkey) and study Egypt’s strategic relations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE in particular. The book’s main argument derives from a complex web of political, socio-economic and military issues in a changing regional and international system. It states that the Egyptian regional policy under Sisi will generally remain consistent with existing parameters (such as broad counter-terrorism efforts, including against the Muslim brotherhood). There is strong evidence to support the idea that Cairo wishes to maintain a GCC-first policy

Over the last half-century, the GCC states have invested on a huge scale in higher education, but the stated commitment to internationally recognized excellence has also to come to terms with tradition. These pressure points are examined here in a number of comparative studies, and cover among other topics: - higher education as soft power to promote regional or global influence - intense reliance on foreign instructors - citizen entitlements - badu and hadar divisions - gender separation- different visions of language of instruction - marginalization of foreign students and faculty outside work - branch campuses of foreign universities Despite efforts to train and employ nationals, the vast majority of health workers remain non-local, and major challenges remain in fields such as science and technology. Expenditure has not always led to the effective reform of underperforming educational systems, and institutions often fall short of their world-class aspirations. The studies in this book explore ways of making institutions better realise the balance between global and local.

This Special Issue 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 Special Issue 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 Special Issue brings together a selection of articles originally presented and discussed at the Seventh Gulf Research Meeting (GRM) organised by the Gulf Research Centre Cambridge at the University of Cambridge on 16-19 August 2016.

As the migrant crisis escalates at Europe’s borders, the Gulf States have been blamed for having offered “zero resettlement” to Syrian refugees. In response to these statements, some Gulf States claim that they have actually relaxed their entry and residency laws to accommodate sizeable numbers of Syrian nationals since the start of the conflict. The paper assesses these claims using statistics available from these countries, as well as declarations from official bodies released in the local press. It appears that, besides being major aid donors to Arab countries sheltering Syrian refugees, most Gulf States have passed various measures destined to facilitate the entry and stay of Syrians since 2011.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of oil, accounting for 13% of global oil production. The oil reserves of the Kingdom are the second largest in the world, with a global share of around 16%. Over the last three decades, oil consumption in Saudi Arabia has grown at a CAGR of 5.3%. About 75% of the crude oil produced in Saudi Arabia is exported as crude and refined products, the remaining being consumed locally.

Saudi Arabia has been one of the largest exporter and importer in the world, in terms of merchandize trade. The petroleum sector exports accounted for roughly 75% of export earnings and 24% of GDP in 2015. Despite the slump in the oil industry, Saudi Arabia continued to maintain its production levels above 10 million barrels per day (Mbpd) in 2015. As a result of government investments, the non-oil sector witnessed a growth of 4.85% in 2014.

Saudi Arabia has the largest healthcare market among the GCC countries. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12%, reaching USD 48.13 billion by the end of 2018. Rising population, increased life expectancy, growing adult risk factors, and mandatory health insurance are expected to be the major growth drivers.

In the past few years, most of the industrial growth in Saudi Arabia has been led by the construction & cement, metals & mining, and petrochemical & refineries sub- sectors, amongothers. The government’s plan for economic diversification, including investment in large infrastructure projects such as the six economic cities, is one of the key drivers of growth in the industry sector.

Real estate is one of the key non-oil sectors of the Saudi Arabian economy, and it will play an important role in the success of the economic diversification planned by the Kingdom. The real estate sector will continue to grow, led by a growing population, rising personal income, increasing participation of multinational companies in the country, government initiatives, and increased private participation.

Saudi Arabia lies in the arid and semi-arid region of the Arabian Peninsula, and it is the largest country in the world without rivers. Despite unfavorable climatic conditions and scarcity of natural water resources, it has succeeded in meeting most of the water requirements of its rapidly growing population.

In the last few years, there has been a substantial increase in trade and investment between Latin America and the Gulf region as well as the opening of new embassies among these countries, a trend that started in the second half of the last decade. Besides the diverse encounters at the official level through the Arab South American Summits, an increasing number of non-state actors are participating in the growing exchange between these regions, reflecting a renewed interest in enhancing cooperation beyond the government level. This book describes how non-state actors are able to create avenues of participation to bring the GCCcountries and Latin America closer. By examining the different types of actors and issues involved in the increasing exchange, this volume provides anoverview ofone important aspect of the relations between the two regions and the possibilities to consolidate and expand cooperation. Regarding cultural and educational activities which aim to bring the societies of the two regions closer, the bookdescribes the role played by regional organizations, besides the cultural and trade exchange in terms of the art market. In trade and investment, the impact of the relationship between the state and the growing businessmen networks is assessed. Further, the cooperation between the private sector, foreign investors, and the state and its effect on liberalization policies in Latin America is weighed as an opportunity to apply to the GCC economies. At the level of society and the role played by the Muslim/Arab communities in Latin America, thisbooklooks at their transnational links as well astheir influence in the foreign policies of the Latin American countries towards the Gulf region, besides their input in the formation of identities across the regions. This volume offers a non-traditional view focusing on specific actors and issues in the evolving relationship between the Gulf and Latin America, thus providing an understanding of the possibilities and obstacles in the relationship.

In September 2015, world leaders chose the sustainable development path for thenext fifteen years after agreeing on seventeen Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) with 169 targets. The SDGs were clubbed under the title “TransformingOur World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” They will build uponand replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the eight internationaldevelopment goals established in 2000 in the Millennium Summit of the UnitedNations. This paper discusses the major differences between SDGs and MDGs andassesses, briefly, each of the seventeen SDGs in relation to the Gulf CooperationCouncil (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and theUnited Arab Emirates) in terms of current status and future prospects.

How the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relates to BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is, in the light of the growing strength and importance of this organisation in the countries which comprise it, of critical importance. The GCC countries have fastgrowing economies, and they share some of the attributes and concerns of BRICS countries. The objective of this book is to examine the commonalities and the differences in economic and political interest between the BRICS countries and the GCC countries, so as to assess the potential for cooperation and collective action. Whether the GCC could itself become a part of BRICS is also worth consideration. While the focus is on the GCC, the GCC’s relations with the BRICS countries have been, and will continue to be, closely affected by the wider Gulf dimension – the state of their relations with Iran and Iraq, and the manner in which the BRICS countries relate to those two countries.

Traditionally the Middle East is considered a region so complex that it does not allow a clear political narrative on its political and strategic priorities: it is an explication but also an excuse for short sighted crisis management and inaction. This conference, where the NATO Defense College Foundation has brought together an exceptional array of regional practitioners in a very critical period of the region, has dispelled this and other myths.

This paper studies the spatial and economic development of the Greater Salalah area in the southern governorate of Dhofar (Oman) in a conceptually well-informed manner referring to theories of post-modern urban development, especially of “globalized” cities, global and local fragmentation, post-modern urbanisation and characteristics of contemporary port cities.

The Gulf is in the first rank of potential global flashpoints. It is the largest market for weapons imports in the world and is considered to be a vital interest of all the great powers. Ran is viewed as an expansionist threat by Arab states of the Gulf, who have built considerable militaries in a historically short timeframe. Security in the Gulf, however, is a complicated matter. The Arab states of the Gulf have pursued different defense policies, as well as different ways of building up their forces. In some instances, the establishment of a strong military is not just a way to ensure security, but also a way to build a national identity. In other cases, great powers (such as the United States) seek to promote cooperation between the Arab Gulf militaries as an interim step to promote political reform and integration.

GCC-Iran relations are at the heart of important political dynamics in the Middle East today. This is not limited to the ongoing disputes in the Gulf, one of the most important strategic locations globally. Iran and the GCC states also find themselves on opposing sides in the Syrian and to some extend the Iraqi conflicts. This volume traces the origins of the troubled relations between Iran and the majority of the GCC monarchies. It discusses not only geostrategic rivalries, but also matters of identity which have been of increased importance since 2010. While important differences are noticeable among the GCC monarchies in regard to their willingness to engage Iran, the difficult relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran puts a strain on the possibilities for engagement between Iran and the GCC as a whole.

Rapid population growth, increasing urbanization, the vital need for air-conditioning and water desalination, as well as energy-intensive industries are driving the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to burn growing amounts of their hydrocarbon production, or become importers of natural gas to sustain their fast economic development.

The joint comprehensive action plan (JCPOA) finally led to the lifting of sanctions on the lsamic Republic of Iran. Coming into force on January 16, 2016 the lifting of sanctions has apparently opened the floodgates to business transactions, in what has been dubbed the biggest emerging market since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

he investment options of the GCC countries have narrowed since the decline in oil prices in the second half of 2014 and they have had to reconsider their fiscal spending. They have repatriated foreign assets and cut down their foreign portfolio investments.

In 2015, relations between the GCC states and Russia fluctuated considerably,showing both upswing and downswing tendencies. Though paramount importance continued to be attached to bilateral relations, the differences between the bilateral tracks were very evident and substantial.

This paper deals with developments in the relations between the GCC countries and the European U-nion countries during 2015 in terms of the issues and interactions that defined those relations.

Relations between Latin America and the Gulf countries have been hitherto a little explored topic in academic research. With the notable exception of the ill-fated 2010 Iranian nuclear agreement with Turkey and Brazil, this lack of interest in issues between the two regions can be largely explained by the absence of controversial political matters with which to attract media and scholarly attention.

The price war that may be dated to OPEC's conference on November 27, 2014 continued in 2015 and shows no sign of soon leading to a new equilibrium. Crude oil production continues to exceed global demand; stocks are increasing, and, at the time of writing, prices remain on a downward slope.

There are important incentives for developing Gulf Arab countries’ relations with Eastern Europe. At the same time, there are significant potential obstacles for such relationships, chief among them being the lack of tradition in official interactions between the states of the two sub-regions. Furthermore, major academic research into this matter is also lacking. Therefore, in an effort to provide an introductory account of the relations between the Arab Gulf countries and Eastern Europe, this paper scrutinizes Bulgarian and Czech interactions with the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The status of bilateral relations is ascertained by reviewing the key areas of interaction, highlighting the main drivers behind them, and the main achievements and obstacles to the relationships. The analysis is focused on explicating the factors contributing to the observed outcomes, thus elucidating the main perceptions and considerations conducive to particular results. Besides its immediate empirical contribution, this study also contains ideas about the way in which relations between IR actors can be conceptualized.

Relations between the GCC states and China have intensified in recent years driven by rising trade ties and closer political consultations. With the GCC states diversifying their foreign relations, China and East Asia have become a focal point also due to question marks surrounding US policy towards the Gulf region. In this paper, the author looks in depth at the current Chinese thinking about its strategic position vis-à-vis with the Gulf, arguing that, in essence, both the US and China seek to support regional security as they benefit from the Gulf’s stability. Well aware of its strengths and limitations, China will focus on building up its competitiveness in the region rather than allowing the Gulf to become an arena of rising competition between itself and the US.

Over the last decade, Qatar has significantly revised its legal framework in a number of areas that are relevant to the issue of migration. The revision has led to the establishment of rules and regulations that better conform to international standards in areas such as labour rights and human trafficking. However, Qatar’s controversial kefala (sponsorship) system is still a source of concern. This note offers researchers a succinct outline and summary of Qatar’s legal framework on migration. The system of migration-related legislation in the State of Qatar includes the Constitution, international treaties concluded, national laws and by-laws.

In a new GRC Gulf Paper, Shahram Chubin looks at the widespread changes occurring in the Middle East from the Levant to the Gulf which reveal a region in the midst of a comprehensive upheaval. The author argues that while the region is in an unprecedentedly fluid state, neither the length of the transition nor the outcome of the current transformation is predictable. A principal theme of the paper is the degree to which regional politics have been the product of local dynamics and forces and the marginal impact of outside powers, even in the Cold War and the decade of unipolarity following it.

As the world’s oil and gas prices decline, taxation of foreign workers’ remittances has increasingly become a potentially viable solution to address government budget deficits in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. With growing unemployment rates and labour shortages among local populations, the GCC governments have recently proposed legislative and, in some cases already introduced, economic measures to tax foreign workers’ remittances. Newly proposed tax measures on remittance outflows are often rationalised as critical stop-gap solutions to mitigate high government budget deficits and share costs in accessing state-subsidized public infrastructure and services. Yet, several GCC governments face a complex policy dilemma between balancing budget deficits and addressing high labour shortages and incentives in local labour markets. Thus, the key policy question is: how can GCC governments manage this emerging policy dilemma within their borders? This policy brief examines not only the recently suggested policy responses of various GCC governments but also their long-term potential implications on national labour markets and migrants and their families both in the destination and origin countries

The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), represents one of the most urbanized regions in the world, with an estimated 70 percent of the population residing in cities. The GCC states have adopted strategies to balance growth and shift dependence on oil. Architecture and urbanism are seen as dynamic facilitators and flexible commodities in the network of transnational urbanisms and global capitalist forces. Cities in this region are shaped by various forces: historical, geopolitical, demographic, and topographical contexts as well as by large influxes of investments and workforce. These cities now shape 21st century urban concepts. This volume is an exploration of specific Gulf cities as interfaces. Twenty first century cities continue to act as interfaces not only as physical spaces but also as evolving machinery and tools of capital. From food urbanism and edible landscape to modernist ideals, grandiose visions, and new orientalism's, the papers in this volume address and investigate the city in four variances: Urbanism and Identity as Interface; Landscape and Geography as Interface; Social Condition and History as Interface; and Culture and Politics as Interface

The most widespread representation of the Gulf depicts megastructures and a network of infrastructural landscapes organized within a highly visualized urban environment. The Gulf city aspires to compete in a global market and tends to accentuate its symbolic economies making use of arts and signature architectural projects to promote its image. In this process, it works through identity negotiation between a capitalist super-modern tendency and Arab Islamic conservatism. Dubai is a good reflection of this archetype. Yet beneath this image, there exist countless narratives that are inherently integrated within regional visual practices: the particularities and cultural limitations of visual territories, local ways of seeing, imagery production, display and visualism, as well as ocular perceptions of the city and issues of physiognomy of form in urban morphology. This book is about the visual turn in the Gulf. It traces image production and consumption and examines the existing visual landscape in the region. Writings examine the wealth of visual culture(s) in the Gulf in order to explore how meaning is both made and transmitted in an increasingly visual world. Seven chapters draw together writings on the relationship between cultural production, visual practices, and the politics of representation while ultimately arguing for a multidimensional reality in the cultural production of the Gulf region. Authors depart from various theoretical perspectives on iconology, museology, urban morphology, globalization, post-colonial narratives, feminist critique, transnational cultural shifts, and identity politics.

The Gulf Research Center, the Geneva Center for Security Policy and the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University convened in Gstaad in June 2015 for their annual discussions on developments in the Middle East. Bringing together renowned regional, security, and policy experts in order to assess the current situation in the Middle East, the meeting focused on the changing strategic landscape and the geopolitical and regional dynamics at play, assessed the state and implications of the Arab Revolutions, and took an in-depth look at the situation in the Levant, Turkey, North Africa, the Gulf region, and Israel and Palestine.

The sponsorship system of the Arab Gulf countries comprises rules and regulations that tie the residence of a migrant worker to his/her sponsor in the country. This paper offers an in-depth examination of the legal framework of the sponsorship system of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. It looks at different aspects of the system starting with the requirement for sponsorship and ending with the rules on absconding and repatriation.

Irregular migration has great resonance in the Gulf, just as in the West. Migrants in irregular situation avoid state administrative procedures and so their numbers are unknown. The largest amnesty (Saudi Arabia 2013) would have affected more than 50 per cent of the migrants in the country. Irregular migration is by definition a breach of legislations that regulate the migrant’s status. It also results from contexts characterising some sending states, such as poverty, which forces nationals from these countries to move to more dynamic labour markets. Efforts must be made by countries of origin and destination to curtail irregular migration. In the Gulf States, this may be addressed in several ways: by improving the working and living conditions of foreign workers; by amending sponsorship rules; by granting citizenship to select categories of migrants; and by disentangling migration laws from labour laws. Initiatives in this regard have been taken by some countries and need to be strengthened in the future.

This study describes the history of the territorial dispute between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran over Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb, islands located in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz through which 40 percent of the world’s oil and most of the oil from the Gulf region passes. The paper discusses the status of the three islands during the pre-colonial, British colonial, and post-colonial periods. Of particular note is Great Britain’s role in the Gulf and how it shaped the development of the claims of Iran and the emirates of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah over the three disputed islands. The paper also examines the Iranian and UAE legal perspectives concerning the islands in order to get a better understanding of why Iran has consistently refused to submit the case to the International Court of Justice.

As of May 27, 2015, estimates of Oman’s total population stood at 4,187,516 persons, of whom 1,849,412 (44.2 per cent) were foreign nationals. Foreign workers are overwhelmingly from the Asian subcontinent: Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis together made up 87 per cent of the workforce in 2013. Eighty-two per cent of all foreign workers were employed in the private sector that year, and 12 per cent were filling managerial and “white collar” posts. The flow of foreign workers to Oman has been rising over the 2000s up till today. Lagging youth employment and rising poverty levels spurred popular protests in 2011 which slowed down economic diversification and the private sector’s development process. However, sectoral Omanisation quotas are now enforced and the hiring of Omani nationals in every business has become mandatory. Aggressive measures also target foreign residents in irregular situation which has led to several massive amnesty and deportation campaigns since 2010.

Gulf region’s relations with the outside world are changing radically. The Gulf’s major trading partners are now no longer predominantly Western. China, in particular, now has a significant stake and highly critical interests in the region. The United States still dominates the security field, yet its Gulf allies have come to doubt the strength of US commitment. Meanwhile the Arab monarchies of the Gulf are struggling to cope with multiple divisions, problems and threats: the radical forces of change unleashed by the Arab Spring, the rising power of ISIS, and the destabilising impact of their unsettled relations with Iran. This book examines the range of security issues which this situation has given rise to: the nature and scope of US power, and the likely directions of future policy; the options open to Asian powers with interests in the region; the concerns, strategies and dynamics of the regional states; and the feasibility of European states assuming a security role in the region.

The ties that bind Africa and the Gulf region have deep historical roots that influence both what Braudel called the longue durée and the short-term events of current policy shifts, market-based economic fluctuations, and global and local political vicissitudes. This book, a collaboration of historians, political scientists, development planners, and a biomedical engineer, explores Arabian- African relationships in their many overlapping dimensions. Thus histories constructed from the “bottom up” – records of the everyday activities of commerce, intermarriage, and gender roles – offer an incisive complement to the “top down” histories of dynasties and the elite. Topics such as migration, collective memory, scriptural and oral narratives, and contemporary notions of food security and “soft” power pose new questions about the ties that bind Africa to the Gulf. This volume is based on a workshop held at the 5th Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center Cambridge in summer 2014.

As Yemenis start planning the reconstruction and rebuilding of their country after recent turmoil they face huge challenges in every major sphere. This book discusses the political and economic background and analyses the most important issues: - the option of improved governance through a federal government - addressing the powerful and patronage networks of the previous regime - investing in Yemen’s human and natural resources to compensate for falling revenues from oil and gas - maintaining rural life through reduced dependence on irrigated agriculture and investing in enhancing rain fed agriculture - addressing the issue of urban water shortage through desalination - involving women in enhancing security This volume is based on a workshop held at the 5th Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center Cambridge in summer 2014.

This volume surveys the increasing challenges facing the Arab Gulf states in terms of sustainable consumption and production. Topics include: - Environmental sustainability: waste, recycling, water, energy, renewables, and pollution - Economic sustainability: employment, education, training and business engagement - Social sustainability: equality and diversity, pollution, congestion, community participation Includes contributions from specialists from the UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon, Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Qatar as well as from the US and the UK. This volume is based on a workshop held at the 5th Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center Cambridge in summer 2014.

Extreme fluctuations in oil prices (such as the dramatic fall from mid-2014 into 2015) raise important strategic questions for both importers and exporters. In this volume, specialists from the US, the Middle East, Europe and Asia examine the rapidly evolving dynamic in the energy landscape, including renewable and nuclear power, challenges to producers including the shale revolution, and legal issues. Each chapter provides in-depth analysis and clear policy recommendations. This volume is based on a workshop held at the 5th Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center Cambridge in summer 2014.

Filling a void in academic and policy-relevant literature on the topic of the green economy in the Arabian Gulf, this edited volume provides a multidisciplinary analysis of the key themes and challenges relating to the green economy in the region, including in the energy and water sectors and the urban environment, as well as with respect to cross-cutting issues, such as labour, intellectual property and South-South cooperation. Over the course of the book, academics and practitioners from various fields demonstrate why transitioning into a ‘green economy’ – a future economy based on environmental sustainability, social equity and improved well-being – is not an option but a necessity for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States. Through chapters covering key economic sectors and cross-cutting issues, the book examines the GCC states’ quest to align their economies and economic development with the imperatives of environmental sustainability and social welfare, and proposes a way forward, based on lessons learned from experiences in the region and beyond. This volume will be of great relevance to scholars and policy makers with an interest in environmental economics and policy.

The notion of “rentier mentality” has haunted the literature on the Gulf States for almost 40 years now. However, few studies have actually provided insight into how the Nationals themselves perceive their career motivators, employability and productivity. The eleven studies of this book present both empirical findings and case studies that reveal what nationals expect from their workplace and what hinders them from a personal, meaningful contribution. While it seems that an initially high work motivation is often annihilated by structural impediments such as a strong hierarchy or widespread wasta, it also seems that many national fail to understand the urgent requirements of the GCC labour markets.

This paper examines the Gulf Arab countries’ foreign and security policies in the immediate aftermath of the Arab uprisings (until mid-2014) and compares them to the policies of the US and the EU. Building on a detailed outline of the different facets of power and a comparison with the respective actor’s capabilities in the aftermath of World War I, it argues that, relatively speaking, the power of the Western actors has declined, while that of the Gulf Arab players has increased. The analysis lays out the factors that have contributed to this outcome. Analytically, the paper engages with the concept of power but starts from the perspective of the entities that experience the exercise of power. This allows the author to develop the investigation using traditional power measurements, while simultaneously avoiding a Western-centered viewpoint. Thus, a sense of agency for the Middle East and, more specifically, the Gulf Arab region is restored.

The concept of sustainable development first presented in the Brundtland Report in 1987 underlined the simultaneous and mutually reinforcing pursuit of economic growth, environmental improvement, as well as global and social equity together with an emphasis on global distribution. It marked the start of a new phase in the hitherto antagonistic environment-economy relationship based on the recognition that ecosystem degradation and global warming pose serious threats both for poverty reduction and development. During the 1990s, sustainable development became the predominant feature of the environmental discourse, underlying global, supranational, national, regional, and local environmental policy strategies. A key implication of the interdependence of environmental-development goals as outlined in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) Scenario Report emphasizes the need for a meaningful integration of environmental sustainability concerns in national development plans and strategies of individual donors and inter-governmental development agencies. In addition, there is also the need for closer coordination between multilateral environmental agreements and other international institutions in the development policy sphere. It is necessary to understand the forces that will determine environmental change as well as to choose a set of environmental policies that will move us toward a sustainable future. This, in turn, needs a better understanding of social institutions, and ecological and economic processes. After an extensive analysis of these issues, this paper presents steps that the GCC could take in framing the right environment policies.

This overview of Oman’s regulatory framework of migration is intended to serve as a guide for researchers looking to navigate the set of laws and implementing regulations covering a broad range of migration-related issues from entry and exit conditions to rights and settlement, citizenship, and asylum.

Wars continue to ravage in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Refugees are wandering around aimlessly in the Middle East with many fleeing to Europe. Saudi Arabia and Iran are adding fuel to the flames. They are vying for supremacy while remaining highly suspicious of each other. A Conference for Security and Cooperation could help to ease existing tensions. Many years ago the CSCE was a resounding success. It could thus serve as a blueprint with the nuclear agreement with Iran as a starting point of such a venture.

The objective of the paper is to draw a sketch of UAE’s population and migration dynamics, using the scarce data available from the federal and emirate level statistical bureaus. In 2010, expatriates in the UAE were estimated to number 7,316,073 persons, twenty times the 1975’s figure of 356,343. Foreign nationals thus made up 88.5 per cent of the country’s total population; most were believed to come from Asia and especially from India. In the employed population, foreign nationals accounted for an even larger share (96 per cent of the Dubai’s employed population in 2011). Non-Emiratis comprised 40 per cent of the UAE’s public sector’s workforce in 2013, but as much as 99.5 per cent of those employed in the private sector. Unlike in other GCC states, a quarter of working expatriates were in managerial posts, employed across all activities’ spectrum. Expatriates’ demographic expansion mounted during the 2000s, a period of spectacular economic growth fuelled by soaring oil prices. Since 2008’s financial downturn, however, the economy recovered and the hiring of foreign workers has resumed, stimulated by large-scale projects such as Dubai’s Expo 2020. Nonetheless, reforms in immigration policies are now undertaken, fuelled by security concerns and pressures from human rights’ protection bodies. The reality of some expatriates’ settlement is also witnessed in numbers (expatriate children aged 0-14 outnumbered Emirati children already in 2005), while mixed marriages are acknowledged in policies: some naturalisations of children of Emirati mothers have been performed since 2011.

In 2008, Turkey became the first country outside the Gulf to be given the status of strategic partner of the GCC. This was a turning point in Turkey-GCC relations as, for long, Turkey’s relations with the region had been quite weak, and the two sides had not spent much effort to revive trust-based mutual relations since the Ottoman period. Since 2008, relations have improved in an unprecedented way. The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Jeddah in December 2011 laid the foundation of a regular dialogue at the ministerial level, while Turkey’s trade volumes with the Gulf monarchies reached $19.6 billion in 2012. What explains these remarkable changes? What can be done to encourage exchange of technical expertise and information, improve economic relations, and initiate negotiations to establish free trade zones? The contributions in this volume address these questions and evaluate the historical, cultural, economic, and political reasons for the improving GCC-Turkey ties with a special emphasis on changing security perceptions after the start of the Arab Spring, and specifically the Syrian civil war. They explore the potential areas for further cooperation and the impact of economic interdependence, cultural interactions, and power balances on the evolving relationship between the two sides. To sum up, this timely book provides comprehensive assessments from a well-informed multinational group of authors, thus making an interdisciplinary contribution to the existing literature on GCC-Turkey relations.

Mid-2013, estimates of Bahrain’s population stood at 1,253,191 persons, of whom 638,361 (51 per cent) were foreign nationals. Most were from Asia (85 per cent) and especially from India (half of all foreign residents). Eighty per cent of expatriates are employed. They account for 77 per cent of the employed population and 81 per cent of the private sector’s workforce. Asians are overwhelmingly involved in services and “blue collar” occupations, while Arabs more often fill managerial posts. Immigration flows to the Kingdom increased significantly over the 2000s, fuelled by high oil prices and the ensuing boom in the construction and services sectors. This demonstrates the difficulty to reconcile labour reforms, and especially, the Bahrainisation of the work force, with the maximisation of economic productivity.

With its fifth edition, the 2014 Gulf Research Meeting reached another milestone, becoming definitely an established and expected event in the field of Gulf studies. This has only been made possible thanks to all our participants, both the new ones and the regular ones, who have enthusiastically contributed to the proceedings. Through parallel workshops dedicated to specific topics in the fields of politics, economics, energy, security and the wider social sciences, the Gulf Research Meeting addresses the existing shortcomings, to provide correct and insightful information about the region and to promote mutual understanding between the Gulf and the rest of the world.

This collection of new research brings together state of the art thinking by 45 experts from academia and business on all key aspects of Islamic Finance. Individual volumes deal with the key issues of: Political Economy, Values and Innovation; Risk, Stabilty and Growth; and Performance and Efficiency. Islamic Finance has had a transformational impact on markets well beyond the Muslim world. This development has been the outcome of various stakeholders and agencies interacting to develop a political economy based on Islamic values to generate religiously and culturally authentic financial institutions and instruments. The studies presented in these volumes discuss such interactions through specific examples from the GCC countries supported by comparative perspectives in order to articulate the development and consequences of Islamic Finance.

The following explanatory note outlines the main legislative texts including laws, regulations, and cabinet and ministerial decisions, which govern the inward migration of foreigners to the United Arab Emirates and some elements of the outward migration of Emirati citizens.

The Gulf Research Center has issued its Annual Report 2014, a compilation of the programs, research activities, events and publications that were undertaken all through 2014. Some of the key highlights of the year included: Research Projects: The GRC launched the Gulf Arab Union Project in early 2014 to foster a debate about the direction of unity among the member states of the GCC as well as to analyze the prospects for a deeper union. In addition to a series of policy papers that were prepared and released, events were also held in Cairo, Egypt; Manama, Bahrain and Washington, D.C. Another important project is the Gulf Labor Markets and Migration (GLMM) Program, a joint effort of GRC and the Migration Policy Centre, Florence. Over the course of the year, the program released a number of analytical papers as well as added significantly to the data on GCC labor markets available on the project website. The data is available for free for the general public and can be accessed under http://gulfmigration.eu/ Events: Events and public engagement programs continue to be an important part of the annual GRC calendar. Key events in 2014 included: • The fifth edition of the annual Gulf Research Meeting (GRM), now an established event on the academic calendar, held in August in Cambridge, UK. In 2014, GRM featured 14 workshops with nearly 350 participants. Full information on the Gulf Research Meeting, including for the 2015 event scheduled for August 24-27, 2015, can be found under http://www.gulfresearchmeeting.net/ • The Gulf Forum 2014 on the topic “Arabian Gulf and Regional Challenges” held in Riyadh in September, bringing together numerous prominent decision makers and policy officials for discussions on issues impacting the Gulf region. It was organized in collaboration with the Institute of Diplomatic Studies, Riyadh. • The 2nd Saudi Economic Conference entitled “National Economy: Challenges and Ambitions” organized by the Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz University in cooperation with GRC. The events featured the participation of HRH Prince Muqrin Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and HRH Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the Minister of the National Guard. International Cooperation: Cooperation with a wide range of organizations on Gulf issues is a fundamental component of the GRC strategy. During a trip to the United States in October, GRC Chairman Dr. Abdulaziz Sager and Dr. Christian Koch, Director, GRC Foundation, held meetings with officials in the State Department and Pentagon and at the National Defense University and prominent think tanks including the Council on Foreign Relations, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Atlantic Council, among others. Both also participated in the annual US-Arab Policymakers Conference held by the National Council on US-Arab Relations. As part of broadening its international network, the GRC signed Memoranda of Cooperation with the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) and Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

This volume includes a range of topics addressing aspects of the current status of intellectual property (IP) protection regimes in the Gulf Cooperation Council and its individual member states, and aspiring GCC members Jordan and Yemen. It examines the opportunities and challenges facing the GCC in becoming a real union with common, or at least harmonized, IP laws and regulations, while still allowing flexibility for domestic imperatives and interests. IP is a crucial part of commercial and trade activity which the GCC needs to address as a union to maximize outcomes and benefits for the GCC members collectively and individually. Contributions represent a broad-based and truly international interest in Gulf IP, with authors from Australia, Bahrain, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The volume provides a catalyst for further deliberation and debate on these above issues and other Gulf-related IP issues, as well as a worthy contribution to the expansion of Gulf studies in the broader context.

Following the Arab Spring, the use of social media has become instrumental in organising activist movements and spreading political dissent in the Middle East. New online behaviours have transformed traditional communication channels, enabling young people of all backgrounds to feel politically empowered. But now that spring has turned to winter, what are the long-term implications of internet activism in the region? Social Media in the Arab World provides a unique insight into the role of online communications as a force for change in the Gulf States. Featuring examples as diverse as neo-patrimonial politics in Saudi Arabia and the ways an online presence affects the status of women in Kuwait, the chapters examine shifts in the political, social and religious identities of citizens as a result of increased digital activism. With contributions from a variety of inter-disciplinary experts, this wide-ranging study examines the consequences of changing power dynamics brought about by popular social media. In doing so, this book offers an original perspective on the long-term implications of internet usage in the Arab world and is essential reading for students and researchers working across the region.

This paper provides an overview and evaluation of ethnography’s contribution to our understandings of labor migration to the Gulf States of the Arabian Peninsula. It posits ethnographic research as a complementary research method that helps discern complexities and relations that can be quantitatively explored, but also suggests that ethnographic research has distilled a set of themes and issues that are best ascertained and pursued with qualitative methods. Based largely on the author’s own research agenda and experience, this paper focuses on four primary ethnographic themes that thread through more than a decade of work: theorizing and framing the kafala, labour migration as an industry, migration and structural violence, and the household basis of labour migration.

Despite the fact that the EU finds itself confronted by a deep multi-faceted crisis at the institutional, economic, political and foreign policy level which undoubtedly has affected the EU’s attraction as an integration model and can be expected to hamper the EU’s image and reputation as a ‘source of inspiration’ further in the future, this paper argues that the EU continues still continues to set a relevant example for those regions and countries, such as the Gulf countries, which want to move forward on the path of regional integration. In the view of the authors, it is especially in the way that the EU has been coping with crises, and the solutions that have been found to the current challenges, that may provide invaluable lessons to other countries and regions which may face similar problems in the future.

“This paper aims at providing an outlook on the future of EU-GCC relations by framing the constraints and opportunities for closer cooperation within the debate about regionalism. Starting from the assumption that both the EU and the GCC are more or less successful examples of regional cooperation and integration, the paper argues that opportunities to strengthen GCC cooperation and integration at the regional level lie in the pursuit of an effective and strategic dialogue and cooperation between the two blocs. In particular, the paper offers both theoretical and empirical examples of the phenomenon of inter-regionalism, namely the possibility to draw on, copy, and link up with other regional experiences as well as to coordinate common strategies and policies among regional blocs. In this regard, two areas will be briefly investigated: fiscal and monetary governance, and foreign and security policy.”

This paper will chronicle ASEAN’s approach towards regional security, discuss some of the security architectures in the region, and conclude by offering a prognosis on whether ASEAN would be able to maintain its centrality and be the driving force in maintaining peace and stability in the region. It concludes by seeing what lessons can be drawn from ASEAN’s Security Cooperation.

Given the importance of economic growth for the governments and the people in the GCC countries, there is greater scope for consensus in the economic realm in the short and medium terms as far as the GCC’s future is concerned. Foreign and security policies, meanwhile, are being increasingly shaped in consultation and accommodation with other countries, either at the bilateral or multilateral levels. In the context of Asian countries seeking integration at various regional and sub-regional levels to maximize their economic, political, and security benefits, it would be in the interest of the GCC countries to seek cooperation with Asian countries as a bloc rather than bilaterally. The GCC countries and Asia share a common desire for peace, stability, and security in the region and value the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of all concerned countries. In the process of moving forward, the real test is how to turn the GCC-Asia economic bonhomie into a factor of regional security. The dilemmas in the Gulf region could ease if the GCC and Asian countries evolve new ideas of collective security that go beyond the restrictive paradigms of the past. This, in turn, makes GCC integration all the more imperative.

During the quarter century since the rentier state theory was first articulated, a great deal has changed in respect to the economies of the energy-producing countries of the Gulf. They have not only grown much richer but also adopted sophisticated means for governing their finances and have become significant players in global financial markets. Moreover, they have begun planning for the time when they would run out of hydrocarbon reserves by directing, like Norway, a significant portion of their rents into Sovereign Wealth Funds. Connected to all continents from its several hubs and boasting some of the largest airlines in the world, the Gulf is no longer at the periphery but constitutes one of the significant centers at the global crossroads. After these tremendous changes, however, do the energy-producing states of the Gulf region still remain as rentier states? This paper examines whether the rentier state exists today according to the criteria formulated by Hazem Beblawi and Giacomo Luciani some 25 years ago and whether it is possible to sharpen the definition of the rentier state with the benefit of hindsight.

Analyzing economic and/or political integration among countries from the labor market/migration perspective is relatively uncommon, and more so for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. In this paper, the authors start off with an analysis of the current status of the labor markets in the region, and then try to make the case that it is in the best interest of these countries to seek common ground in their labor market policies. They do this by examining the impact on closer integration on issues such as data collection, remittances, advancing skill levels, as well as addressing income inequality and recruitment issues. The paper concludes by outlining numerous policy recommendations.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as a regional space has been recently institutionalized by the creation of CELAC (Community of Latin America and the Caribbean States) in 2010. Additionally, there are a set of cooperation and regional integration mechanisms with different features, origins, and history, which exist side-by-side and also generate geopolitical convergence and sometimes divergence and even competition. The main aim of this paper is, firstly, to present a brief overview of regionalism in Latin America. Second, the paper will describe the current situation and analyze some of the obstacles that face regional integration processes. Finally, some parallels to the integration process among the GCC states will be drawn in order to highlight some complementarities.

This paper sets out a policy perspective on trade aspects of global economic integration of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as an important regional bloc as well as bilateral attempts by individual member states. The main objective of the paper is to critically assess the currents trends of external preferential trade agreements (EPTAs) of the GCC, identify hindrances, and lay out a policy perspective for the future. Given the increasing vulnerability due to the GCC’s overwhelming trade dependence, it is imperative to enhance economic integration with its main trading partners. While regional integration within the GCC has been moderately successful in terms of overall outcome, the GCC needs to also expedite the process of negotiating EPTAs with its main trading partners, as consolidating trade benefits of external economic integration is critical to its long-term economic growth and diversification

This volume contains the contributions to the Gulf Research Center workshop entitled: “Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Relations with Post-War Iraq: A Strategic Perspective,” held during the July 2013 Gulf Research Meeting in Cambridge, UK. The papers examine the history and future of the often fractious relationship between Iraq and the GCC countries. The backdrop is the US dominance of security arrangements in the Arabian Gulf region for most of the post-war period. Prior to the new millennium, the region’s major security threat was perceived to be the mounting rivalry between a GCC-US camp on the one hand and an Iranian camp on the other. Some semblance of equilibrium had been achieved through the late 1990s, but the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 created new fault lines. In the invasion’s aftermath, regional peace was maintained by the overwhelming presence of US troops both in Iraq and in the GCC more generally. The 2011 withdrawal of US troops from Iraq plunged the region into a state of disequilibrium, and current developments suggest a trajectory of mounting instability. The volume’s contributions explore the underlying reasons for the region’s instability from a variety of perspectives and with an emphasis on the GCC’s relationship with Iraq. Topics covered include: Iraq’s federal architecture, the highly controversial role of Iran, the effects of regional sectarianism, the possibility of Iraq becoming a member of the GCC, the impact of Chinese oil demand, the evolving nature of US regional military deployments, and the expanding use of social media by religious clerics. The volume’s goal is to produce operational recommendations for senior government figures. To that end, each author provides two lists of recommendations for improving the region’s stability: one targeting GCC policymakers and the other targeting their Iraqi counterparts. There is a strong consensus concerning the need for a more inclusive and multilateral approach to regional security, and for any such approach to be spearheaded by the region’s principle stakeholders: Iraq, Iran and the GCC countries themselves. However, the precise nature of a potentially successful common security strategy remains an area of considerable controversy.

The need for an operational and effective regional body such as the GCC has never been greater. The geopolitical conditions of its birth and the region’s enduring instability provide the GCC with the imperative to deepen its institutions, but it is the effects of globalization (as an overwhelming external force) on the one hand, and the GCC states’ survival instincts (in terms of internal and regional challenges) on the other, which makes GCC’s convergence into a more closely-knit organization increasingly desirable, if not inevitable.

The Arab uprisings which started in early 2011 from the Maghreb to the Mashreq have rightfully provoked an incredible burgeoning of research projects and fueled existing ones with new energy. Among the issues the so-called “Arab Spring” has put the focus on is the question of its impact on the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).Narrowing the focus to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the international research community faced two main questions. First, would the wave of Arab uprisings submerge the Kingdom or stop on its shores? Second, it appeared that Saudi Arabia had proven rather resilient to the regional disturbances, but how could one analyze its response to the ambient disorder? This paper aims at answering the latter question.

While high-level politics within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) can be contentious at times, regional economic cooperation has continued to develop involving private cross-border trade and investment. This includes, even if at a slower pace, technocratic cooperation on mundane regulatory issues. By many standards, GCC economic integration continues to be a success story. The public as well as high-level decision makers, however, have arguably focused on the wrong, highly visible but often too ambitious targets like monetary union. Even the much discussed customs union arguably is not as important for economic integration as less visible processes of gradual regulatory standardization and convergence that make cross-border investment easier. Therefore, more political capital should be devoted to the “nitty gritty” of common market integration, including the opening of critical sectors like aviation or banking, and further regulatory and administrative opening and convergence in retail, telecom, construction, tourism, and logistics

While promoting environmental integration among the GCC countries may seem to be a peripheral priority in political exchanges, it is an incentive as well as a tool for nurturing better relations among these countries. The overall aim of environmental integration is to pursue a sustainable development policy and thus achieve a better quality of life for people in different countries. For the GCC countries, this concerns common environmental policies, positions, and standards that are adopted by each member state in order to ease and facilitate economic and political integration. In fact, environmental integration in this regard aims at promoting sustainable development in order to provide a long-term vision that involves combining a dynamic economy with social cohesion and high environmental standards. As the GCC economies continue to expand and grow, environmental challenges and issues will grow as well. Thus, full environmental integration (i.e., on positions, policies, institutions, regulations, and projects) should be viewed as a mandatory step in the right direction. Otherwise, the GCC risks losing what has been achieved and even drawing back on development and quality of life

Housing is what creates and defines cities, and affordable housing is what makes successful and scalable cities. Indeed, housing is the spatial expression of a society’s values and morality, and of its commitment to an inclusive society. In the Gulf region, characterized by rapid urbanization and astonishing transformation over the last two decades, housing is absolutely urgent as a national priority. In the twenty-first century, nations will compete economically based on the effectiveness and efficiency of their cities, which throughout history have been the engines of ideas, innovation, and wealth creation. As nations urbanize, and even more as they become progressively wealthier, housing rises as a national policy priority, because housing quality, availability, and affordability are all matters in the national economic and political interest. The inescapable gravity of land-use economics means that as a nation’s cities become engines of wealth generation, housing cost rises even as the definition of ‘market quality’ is likewise rising. The result is that affordable housing is always a national imperative, because below-market-income people can never afford market quality housing. The Gulf region has an unusually large number of factors that make the emergence and development of quality affordable housing a challenge without obvious parallels or examples elsewhere in the world. As a result, the region presents a set of housing and affordable housing delivery challenges unique in their own right. These challenges will require solutions based on innovation in both the private and public sectors.

The Gulf region’s primary economic relationships are rapidly shifting from West to East. Relations with China, Japan and South Korea are becoming increasingly strategic in nature: based on a degree of mutual dependence far greater than is present in Gulf-Western relations. The balance of global politics will be critically affected by this powerful emerging relationship. This book provides documentation of the trend and examines some of the political and strategic issues which follow from it.

While cooperation on energy issues has been rather tardy among the member countries of the GCC, the fact is that such cooperation on issues related to energy including oil, gas and power generation can potentially be very beneficial. This is true at the global as well as at the regional level. Overall, energy is an area in which cooperation, albeit rewarding, remains very difficult, because low cost and security of supply are viewed as essential components of national development, hence sovereignty. Yet, this paper by Prof. Giacomo Luciani focuses on the areas in which cooperation might take place and underline how beneficial such cooperation might be. It argues that as the GCC states continue to place emphasis on medium- to long-term development and sustainability, the need to loosen some of the sovereignty restrictions by promoting their own energy integration. This is indeed a small price to pay in exchange for much greater benefits

In 2013, Qatar ranked second worldwide in terms of per capita GDP. This is due to its huge endowment in hydrocarbons and the small size of its national population, the smallest in all GCC countries. Exploiting the resources and channeling them into ambitious development policies required massive imports of foreign labour. The country’s total population has quintupled since the mid 1980s; moreover, foreign nationals made an estimated 85.7 per cent of all residents and up to 94.1 per cent of all employed population in 2013. The awarding of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar in December 2010 turned the spotlight on the country’s dilemma regarding the “number vs. rights trade off ” issue: Qatar has one of the most constraining kafala systems in the region. Paradoxically, however, demographic data also indicate that a growing share of foreigners live with their families, give birth in the country, and intermarry with Qataris. The strict separation between nationals and migrants could thus start slowly eroding.

For many decades, the energy industry, particularly oil and gas, has been the mainstay of the GCC countries. Presently, the GCC is home to 81 percent and 25 percent of the world’s oil and gas reserves, respectively. The National Oil Companies (NOCs) have invested in infrastructure development for exploration, production, refining, and distribution of crude oil and natural gas. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques have helped sustain oil production. However, GCC countries such as Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman have been experiencing severe shortages of conventional natural gas and rely on Qatar to meet their peak summer demands. In the downstream industry, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have focused on developing the petrochemical industry. Other GCC countries have followed similar strategies. This paper outlines the challenges facing the oil and gas industry. A SWOT assessment of the GCC’s oil and gas industry is presented and key recommendations in the form of opportunities for the oil and gas industry are outlined. This is particularly aimed at political decision makers and energy industry executives. In conclusion, the future research prospects stemming from this study are laid out.

The purpose of this paper is to set out the steps that members of the GCC would need to take in order to effectively implement their long planned currency union. While the preparatory measures themselves are likely to constitute some of the key economic benefits, Optimal Currency Areas (OCA) will only manifest within a single market in which labor and capital are mobile and in which banking operations and fiscal budgetary decisions are accountable, transparent, and subject to intra-regional institutional regulation and oversight. Thus, in taking steps toward a currency union (CU), participating members would first need to establish a single market and devolve, when required, some executive decision making powers in relation to monetary and macroeconomic matters. By doing so, they would create a larger and deeper market that would be considerably more attractive to domestic and foreign investors alike. However, if member states do achieve such precursors and form a “single” currency as opposed to a “common” one which, give or take, they effectively have with their extant relationships with the US dollar – the driving force will have been political, not economic, incentives

The GCC countries have positioned themselves as the highest remitters in the world, collectively beating the United States, the traditional top remitter. The aggregate official remittance outflows from the Gulf region crossed the $75 billion mark in 2012 which is 50 per cent larger than the amount remitted from the United States for the same year. Remittance literature is large but mainly focused on remittance inflows. This paper summarizes the existing literature on remittance outflows. We use the literature findings to discuss the story of remittance outflows from the GCC countries. Remittance outflows in the region have been linked to local labor policies which determine the source of foreign labor. We explore the potential role of remittance outflows in the local economies and the receiving home countries.

Economic growth in the GCC countries has been high over the last decade and has been comparable to growth in the emerging markets and considerably higher than in the world at large. In order to maintain such growth, the GCC requires a developed financial sector based on strong regulatory institutions. For the moment, however, the GCC financial sector is characterized by a lack of bond and derivative markets, difficult access to credit for small and middle enterprises (SMEs), dominance of international banks in the project finance market, and heavily concentrated equity markets in terms of sectors and ownership. In order to overcome such present shortcomings in the GCC financial sector and to fully capitalize on the benefits of greater integration, the GCC states need to increase liquidity and diversity of their capital markets, facilitate cross-border trading of securities, foster a nascent institutional investor class and, above all, strengthen and unify regulatory frameworks. Together, this will be an important component of a more effective and stronger GCC union.

This book examines the strategies and dynamics through which state-society relations in the Arab Gulf region have been cultivated, and explores the alternative political, social, economic and popular changes that threaten these relations. The work focuses on understanding how state sovereignty has been shifting to accommodate internal social, cultural, and intellectual forces and how these forces have managed to balance social and political powers in order to function within and co-exist alongside the state. Case-studies give specific examples of how social forces, popular movements, social media and youth culture are actively influencing cultural attitudes and practices as well as political actions.

Looked at from a broader perspective, the Middle East region is faced with a myriad of challenges that not only complicates the search for policy solutions but in fact makes the resolution of the present and immediate challenges highly unlikely in the short term.

The sponsorship system of the Arab Gulf countries comprises rules and regulations that tie the residence of a migrant worker to his/her sponsor in the country. This paper offers an in-depth examination of the legal framework of the sponsorship system of three countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. The paper looks at different aspects of the system starting with the requirement for sponsorship and ending with the rules on absconding and repatriation.

This paper challenges the widespread assertion that the Saudi reaction to the developments related to the Arab Spring has been purely counterrevolutionary in nature. While it is true that Riyadh has been supporting the monarchical regimes in Bahrain and Oman and backed the Mubarak regime in Egypt right until its fall, the Kingdom supported the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime in Libya and, after initial hesitation, also became a strong supporter of the anti-regime forces in Syria. The Saudi reaction to the Arab Spring has been dynamic in nature and differed from one state to another. The Saudi bolstering of the political status quo and regime stability in some states, support of revolutionary forces in others, and interference in post-revolutionary processes yet elsewhere, may ostensibly be a contradiction but is in fact the result of a coherent strategy. Riyadh’s reaction to protests, revolts, and revolutions in the Arab states has been strategic keeping in view the perceived challenges and opportunities these developments posed to itsmain policy interests: regime security; regional stability; and the containment, and ideally the rollback, of Iranian regional influence. In this context, the decisive factors are geographic proximity, the nature of the concerned state’s political system, and the quality of the particular regime’s relations with Saudi Arabia and its main opponent, Iran. On the domestic level, Riyadh reacted to popular protests by using its traditional strategy of buying domestic peace; however, it did not conduct any meaningful political reforms and took tough action against protests in the Eastern Province. However, as the majority of protesters did not seek regime change, Riyadh’s reaction cannot be labeled counterrevolutionary.

This volume presents the outcome of an Agriculture Workshop organized by the Gulf Research Centre Cambridge (GRCC), and held at Cambridge University, UK during the Gulf Research Meeting 11-14 July 2012. Co-directed by the editors, the workshop, entitled “Environmental Cost and Changing Pace of Agriculture in the Gulf States” was attended by participants from Australia, Bahrain, India, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, UK, and Morocco. These scientists, educators, researchers, policy makers and managers share their experience in agriculture in the Gulf States, with the aim of helping to improve agriculture production and thus bridge the gap between local production and the food import. The papers gathered here were presented at the workshop, and have all passed through rigorous peer review by renowned scientists. The diverse papers present various aspects of agriculture production in the evolving face of climate change and dwindling water resources in the region. The book covers topics such as the prospects of agriculture in a changing climate; the potential of climate-smart agriculture; the impact of food prices, income and income distribution on food security; improved efficiency in water use; challenges in using treated wastewater in agriculture; investment in foreign agriculture and agricultural research and development. The papers span the nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with specific case studies set in Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Currently, the Saudi Arabian government, through the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), offers an investor-class visa to facilitate and encourage foreign investment in the country. However, while many countries offer similar investment based visas as a pathway to permanent residency and eventual citizenship as a selling point to foreign investors, the Saudi Arabian investment class visa offers only limited residency (through a residency permit known as an iqama). This note examines the unique aspects of this immigrant visa class.

Gaps in labour rights and labour prices between nationals and migrant workers are the main causes explaining the low participation of GCC citizens in the region’s private labour markets. Past policies of “Gulfization” have not directly addressed these structural constraints but have rather attempted to impose higher nationalization quotas by fiat, with limited success. More recently, some of the Gulf governments have started to use taxes and subsidies to try to narrow the labour price gap; at the same time, some have improved the labour mobility rights of foreigners. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of these “second generation” policies. It concludes with general observations on how the rights and price gaps could be closed more systematically and on the broader distributional reforms this might entail.

This paper presents an overview of the labour market for migrant domestic workers in the Gulf Co-operation (GCC) countries. It discusses how current recruitment practices and working conditions contribute to the vulnerability of these workers to exploitation and abuse. The paper shows that although international conventions of the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation could provide frameworks for improved national legislation to protect the rights of domestic workers, GCC countries appear reluctant to ratify or implement conventions specific to migrant workers or domestic workers. Public pressure has led to alternative national legislation in some GCC countries, which is an improvement from a situation of limited or no legislative protection for MDWs; however there are several gaps that render this legislation weak. The paper concludes with policy recommendations to ensure more robust protection is extended to MDWs in the GCC.

This paper addresses a neglected area in studies of migrant labor in the Gulf States showing that exploitation of migrant workers occurs before deployment. Evidence from interviews conducted in the five major labour sending countries to Qatar (Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India) suggests that the recruitment procedures and corrupt practices by recruitment agencies and employing company personnel in the receiving country place unskilled workers in a highly vulnerable position prior to departure from their home countries. As a consequence of practices such as deception, false promises, substitute contracts, bribery, and extortion, there is evidence of debt bondage, forced labor, and trafficking within the normative framework of labor migration. Reform measures that are currently underway in Qatar include the banning of workers paying recruitment fees and charges to agents.

Climate change requires coordinated global responses. All nations, including major Gulf Arab oil producers, should implement policies to contain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet all realistic scenarios point to the continuing global need for fossil fuels. The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) thus face a dilemma between continuing development and use of their fossil fuel endowments and increasing reliance on low carbon sources, such as nuclear, solar or wind. This book edited by Giacomo Luciani and Rabbia Ferroukhi explores various facets of the dilemma. The volume is a product of a workshop held the 2012 Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center, Cambridge.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ranked 22nd in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Rankings’1 in 2013. This is a significant improvement compared to its ranks (above 100) a few years ago. This change has been led by increasing government initiatives, which are enabling a friendly investment environment that encourages participation from foreign and local investors. Indeed, Saudi Arabia received the highest FDI inflows in the GCC region in 2012.

This book edited by Ranjit Gupta, Abubaker Bagader, Talmiz Ahmed and N. Janardhan explores how growing economic ties between Asian countries and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) could impact their future relationship. It postulates that the stage is now set for strategic partnerships and highlights how some Asian countries have been explicit about showcasing their power and influence in the Gulf region. While exploring an alternative and broad-based security architecture, it identifies the challenges that any probable Asian cooperative approach could face as the countries of the Arabian Gulf show signs of looking beyond the United States to develop their long-term strategic interests. The volume is a product of a workshop held the 2012 Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center, Cambridge.

Saudi Arabia’s healthcare sector has come a long way since the establishment of the Ministry of Health (MoH) in the 1950s. The years that followed saw Saudi Arabia emerging as a key player in the global economy, following the success of its oil industry, which enabled investments to build a local healthcare system. Five year plans, better healthcare infrastructure, and recruitment of expats as doctors and nurses led to a multifold increase in the quality of services provided by the healthcare sector.

In the past few years, most of the industrial growth in Saudi Arabia has been led by the construction and cement, metals and mining, and petrochemicals and refineries sub sectors, among others. The government’s plan for economic diversification, including investments in large infrastructure projects such as the six economic cities, is one of the key drivers of growth in the industry sector. Saudi Arabia has a large local population base which is growing at over 2% per annum, which will also drive the demand for better infrastructure including housing.

Real estate is one of the key non-oil sectors of the economy of Saudi Arabia and will play an important role in the success of the economic diversification planned by the Kingdom. The real estate sector will continue to grow in the future led by growing population, rising personal incomes, increasing participation of multinational companies in the country, government initiatives, and increased private participation.

Saudi Arabia lies in the arid, semi-arid region of the Arabian Peninsula and is the largest country in the world without rivers. Despite unfavorable climatic conditions and scarcity of natural water resources, it has succeeded in meeting most of the water requirements of its rapidly growing population so far. Water consumption in the Kingdom increased at a CAGR of 2.6% from 1970 and reached 17,903 million cubic meters (mcm) in 2010 or about 653 m3 per capita, about 35% higher than the global average. The rise in water consumption was led by a nearly five time increase in population during the same period (1970–2010), higher urbanization levels, which increased from about 50% to over 80%, and increased industrialization.

In recent years, Russia’s Middle East policy has begun shifting back to the Soviet model, in which the region was regarded primarily through the prism of the strategic, geopolitical views of Russia, specifically in relation to its strategic competition with the United States. Under this model, economic interests are sidelined, being perceived as secondary to the greater political goals. The basic logic of the Soviet model is to achieve geopolitical goals at any financial or economic expense. The Arab Spring and the Syrian crisis have given further impetus to Russia’s policy toward such old Soviet logic. In the context of Iran, Russia continues to enjoy its position as a member of the P5+1 group and receive attention from states in the Middle East and beyond. The same is true for the Russian role as far as Syria is concerned. Moscow sees itself as a center of political gravity for the major regional actors, including the Arab Gulf countries, a role that is sustained despite Russia’s continued pro-Assad line. Overall, we can see a special, two-level model emerging in the Russia-Arab Gulf relationship: the political level reflecting agreement and disagreement over various matters and the business level where, to some extent, business deals prevail over politics.

The oil and gas industry is the backbone of the economy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributing about 75% to budget revenues, 45% to GDP, and 90% to exports. Saudi Arabia has the second largest oil reserves, largest oil production, and the fifth largest natural gas reserves in the world. Over 72% of the oil produced in the Kingdom is exported. Indeed, the economy of Saudi Arabia is dependent on these non-renewable sources of energy, with a high correlation between Saudi Arabia’s GDP and oil prices.

A comparison for 1995, 2005, and 2011 reveals large discrepancies in the two main sources of population data, the censuses and the civil registration system. Possible reasons and implications of the observed discrepancies are discussed, and suggestions are made for actions and policies that might help improve data quality. This analysis suggests that the numbers recorded by the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) are likely to be relatively more reliable and valid than the census. However, a conclusive statement about this requires additional objective analysis. A system of post-enumeration sample surveys may be established as a usual mechanism for checking the accuracy of census data. Also, special studies designed to ensure the accuracy of PACI data should be conducted periodically.

Gulf Charities and Islamic Philanthropy in the “Age of Terror” and Beyond edited by Robert Lacey and Jonathan Benthall is the first book to be published on the charities of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf, covering their work both domestically and internationally. From a diversity of viewpoints, the book addresses the historical roots of Islamic philanthropy in religious traditions and geopolitical movements; the interactions of the Gulf charities with “Western” relief and development institutions – now under pressure owing to budgetary constraints; numerous case studies from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia; the impact of violent extremism on the sector, with the legal repercussions that have followed – especially in the USA; the recent history of attempts to alleviate the obstacles faced by bona fide Islamic charities, whose absence from major conflict zones now leaves a vacuum for extremist groups to penetrate; and the prospects for a less politicized Islamic charity sector when the so-called “war on terror” eventually loses its salience. The volume is a product of a workshop held the 2012 Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center, Cambridge.

ituating Egypt-Gulf interstate relations within the post-Mubarak regional dynamics, this paper highlights the regional constraints that upheld the Gulf-Egyptian informal alliance despite mounting tensions starting 2011. The paper looks at the Saudi and Egyptian states, which are the main social and political actors of this informal alliance. It depicts the politics and economics sustaining Egyptian-Saudi relations despite the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who was a personal friend of the Saudi royal family. It also assesses the role of non-state transnational actors in supporting and/or contesting their state’s policies toward each other. The paper concludes with an assessment of the major challenges facing Egypt’s relations with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf despite the current restoration of the Mubarak-era pattern of interaction.

The Gulf Research Center has released the annual report of its activities for 2013 highlighting the conferences, meetings and project work undertaken during the course of the year. GRC conducted important events in 2013 including the Gulf Research Meeting which gathered almost 500 participants. All GRC activities in terms of events, participations, publications and other research work are documented in this annual report based on GRC commitment to contribute to the intellectual and research capacity of the entire Gulf region.

Abstract: The seventh issue of the Gulf-Asia Research Bulletin is now available. The current issue features several articles on Japan’s relations with the Gulf including the GCC and Iran.

The Gulf Labour Market and Migration (GLMM) programme publishes its third paper: “Kuwait’s Legal Framework of Migration” by Maysa Zahra. The paper gives a detailed most up-to-date overview of the legal dimension of migration to Kuwait. The note offers an overview of Kuwait’s regulatory framework of migration. It serves as a guide to researchers looking to navigate the system of laws and implementing regulations covering a broad range of migration-related issues from entry and exit conditions to rights and settlement and citizenship and asylum. The GLMM programme produces an array of publications addressing all major issues in different formats. Initially, it focuses on Facts Sheets, Explanatory Notes and Conference Papers. Subsequently, it will add Research Papers, Policy Briefs, Academic Publications as well as Proceedings & Reports. GLMM is an international independent, non-partisan, non-profit joint programme of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC - Florence) and the Gulf Research Center (GRC - Jeddah, Geneva, Cambridge, Tokyo). GLMM provides data, analyses, and recommendations aiming at a better understanding and improved management of Gulf labour markets and migration, engaging with and respecting the viewpoints of all stakeholders. GLMM intends to become an indispensable tool for researchers, students, policymakers, advocates and migrants in, as well as nationals of the GCC countries.

The Gulf Labour Market and Migration (GLMM) programme publishes its fourth paper: “Saudi Arabia’s Legal Framework of Migration” by Maysa Zahra. The paper gives a detailed most up-to-date overview of the legal dimension of migration to Saudi Arabia. The note offers an overview of Saudi Arabia’s regulatory framework of migration. It serves as a guide to researchers looking to navigate the system of laws and implementing regulations covering a broad range of migration-related issues from entry/exit conditions to rights, settlement, and citizenship. The GLMM programme produces an array of publications addressing all major issues in different formats. Initially, it focuses on Facts Sheets, Explanatory Notes and Conference Papers. Subsequently, it will add Research Papers, Policy Briefs, Academic Publications as well as Proceedings & Reports. GLMM is an international independent, non-partisan, non-profit joint programme of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC - Florence) and the Gulf Research Center (GRC - Jeddah, Geneva, Cambridge, Tokyo). GLMM provides data, analyses, and recommendations aiming at a better understanding and improved management of Gulf labour markets and migration, engaging with and respecting the viewpoints of all stakeholders. GLMM intends to become an indispensable tool for researchers, students, policymakers, advocates and migrants in, as well as nationals of the GCC countries

This paper was presented at the EU-GCC Renewable Energy Policy Experts’ Workshop, an international meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center, EPU-NTUA and Masdar Institute, and is being published by GRC within the framework of the Promoting Deeper EU-GCC Relations project supported by the European Commission. The paper focuses on integrated energy and water management. Electric power is required to produce, treat, distribute, and recycle water while water is required to generate and consume electricity. The goal of this position paper is to identify and motivate opportunities for the operations management and planning of the energy-water nexus. It proceeds in three parts. First, an exposition of the energy-water nexus especially as it applies to the GCC is given. This discussion focuses on the electric power system, the potable water distribution system, and the wastewater distribution system. Then, the paper shifts to opportunities in operations management where recent work in the Laboratory for Intelligent Integrated Networks of Engineering Systems has produced a number of optimization programs to support the deregulated operation of integrated energy-water markets. To highlight the viability of this idea, an energy-water nexus supply side economic dispatch is presented. Finally, the position paper shifts to discuss planning opportunities for the energy-water nexus for the sustainable development of water and energy resources. These include new methods that encourage renewable energy penetration and balance the portfolio of desalination technologies. It also includes integrated strategies for the design of water infrastructure to minimize embedded energy while reusing water of various qualities. The paper concludes with a description of opportunities for EU-GCC collaboration in the integrated energy and water management area.

This paper was presented at the EU-GCC Renewable Energy Policy Experts’ Workshop, an international meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center, EPU-NTUA and Masdar Institute, and is being published by GRC within the framework of the Promoting Deeper EU-GCC Relations project supported by the European Commission. The paper provides an analysis of the existing status of renewable energy in the GCC, specifically highlighting ongoing initiatives, future opportunities, and potential benefits from RE deployment, as well as barriers faced by the different GCC countries. With a third of the world’s oil reserves, patterns of domestic consumption have never been a significant issue in energy planning in the GCC. This, however, is set to change with the emergence of important energy challenges with economic and environmental implications. In particular, the region is experiencing astounding growth in domestic demand fueled by rising populations, economic growth, rapid industrialisation and infrastructure development. The rising demand and the current energy pricing structures are putting pressures on government budgets. The increasing consumption is also resulting in forgone export revenues, and in some countries, threatening the long term sustainability of fossil fuel resources. Finally, the reliance on fossil fuels and the regional consumption patterns, have already led to some of the highest per capita carbon footprints in the world. As a result, the GCC governments are exploring several ways to diversify their energy mix and introduce alternatives. It is in this context that renewable energy is emerging as one of the viable options for energy diversification in GCC.

This paper, which was presented at the EU-GCC Renewable Energy Policy Experts’ Workshop, an international meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center, EPU-NTUA and Masdar Institute, is being published by GRC within the framework of the Promoting Deeper EU-GCC Relations project supported by the European Commission. The paper presents a review of renewable energy applications, potentials and barriers for the GCC region. It also discusses the different challenges facing the integration of renewables into the grid of the GCC countries. Solar energy exhibits the highest potential for the region, followed by wind energy. Analysis of different solar technologies has demonstrated that solar thermal applications such as Concentrated Solar Power should be further researched for desert climates, as most current power plant implementations rely on water consumption for achieving good efficiencies. A comparison between photovoltaic solar technologies shows that the Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) technology is a promising technology for the GCC region because of its high efficiency and suitable operation in a hot climate. The barriers facing widespread application, as well as integration of renewables into the grid, are mainly related to lack of clear policies and regulatory frameworks in most of the GCC countries. The technological barriers are being investigated by many researchers in the region. It is recommended that the integration of renewables into the GCC grid be accompanied by the conversion of the current conventional grid into a smart grid. In order to accomplish this, well defined implementation road-maps for the smart grid and renewables must be developed urgently by each GCC country.

This paper was presented at the EU-GCC Renewable Energy Policy Experts’ Workshop, an international meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center, EPU-NTUA and Masdar Institute, and is being published by GRC within the framework of the Promoting Deeper EU-GCC Relations project supported by the European Commission. Collaboration efforts and synergies between the EU and the GCC relating to numerous thematic clean energy topics, including energy efficiency and demand side management (DSM), have attracted interest from both sides, which continues to grow. The aim of this paper is to utilize the existing know how in the field of Demand Side Management and investigate its potential applicability in the GCC environment. Following a thorough review of the existing situation in the GCC, it is clear that a number of barriers inhibiting the further promotion of DSM programs exist, the most important being structural, as well as market-related barriers. The paper suggests that the proposed DSM initiatives at this point should not focus on technological aspects, but rather primarily on relevant legislative and financial aspects. These DSM initiatives were discussed in depth with GCC stakeholders and energy experts, in order to create a priority shortlist for a number of DSM activities relevant for the region.

The Seminar Report summarizing the proceedings of the 2013 Gulf Research Meeting (GRM) has been released. The 2013 Gulf Research Meeting was the fourth meeting in what has become within the short period of its existence an established tradition in the field of Gulf studies. During this time and since the first gathering in 2010, the objectives of the GRM remain the same - to further build and extend the bridge of scholarly and academic excellence, and to promote continued exchange among scholars working on this critical part of the world. The past year has once again underlined the numerous issues that impact the Gulf region as well as the entire Middle East. A proper understanding of these issues and their wide-ranging consequences continues to be urgent and absolutely necessary. For the 2013 meeting, the number of workshops was restricted to twelve, a policy that we will continue in order to ensure the quality and longevity of our meeting. This made the selection from over 50 excellent proposals, covering a broad spectrum of critical issues currently facing the Gulf region, even more difficult. At the same time, the meeting still brought together more than 300 participants with 180 paper presenters and well more than 100 listening participants. The response for the meeting continues to be significant. Please click below to view the report.

An overall of the deliberations held during the first GCC-Swiss Forum held September 3 and 4, 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland has been released. The event which brought together more than 200 participants included several keynote speeches and panel discussions on issue related to promoting a better business environment between the GCC states and Switzerland.

The Gulf Labour Market and Migration (GLMM) programme publishes its second paper: “Qatar’s Legal Framework of Migration” by Maysa Zahra. The paper gives a detailed most up-to-date overview of the legal dimension of migration to Qatar. Over the last decade, Qatar has significantly revised its legal framework in a number of areas that are relevant to the issue of migration. The revision has led to the establishment of rules and regulations that better conform to international standards in areas such as labour rights and human trafficking. However, Qatar’s controversial kefala (sponsorship) system is still a source of concern. This note offers researchers a succinct outline and summary of Qatar’s legal framework on migration. The system of migration-related legislation in the State of Qatar includes the Constitution, international treaties concluded, national laws and by-laws. The GLMM programme produces an array of publications addressing all major issues in different formats. Initially, it focuses on Facts Sheets, Explanatory Notes and Conference Papers. Subsequently, it will add Research Papers, Policy Briefs, Academic Publications as well as Proceedings & Reports. GLMM is an international independent, non-partisan, non-profit joint programme of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC - Florence) and the Gulf Research Center (GRC - Jeddah, Geneva, Cambridge, Tokyo). GLMM provides data, analyses, and recommendations aiming at a better understanding and improved management of Gulf labour markets and migration, engaging with and respecting the viewpoints of all stakeholders. GLMM intends to become an indispensable tool for researchers, students, policymakers, advocates and migrants in, as well as nationals of the GCC countries.

The European Union (EU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been interacting on a number of aspects of global governance for many years. Despite significant differences in size, structure, and political views on various topics, both organizations have managed to establish a level playing field wherein a tentative convergence of attitudes towards global governance has been possible. Until recently, this has predominantly been in the field of economic cooperation. The focus on economics has led some to view this cooperation as falling short of perhaps overambitious expectations in political issues, while others view the cooperation as fitting with the EU’s external relations and political incentives. While this paper focuses on the opportunities for cooperation in global governance, it is crucial to note that within the EU and the GCC the scope for engagement is heavily dependent upon the impulse provided by the member states of both institutions. The joint cooperation activities reveal that the EU-GCC relationship is flourishing, but in specific sectors rather than on global lines. This paper seeks to show a sample of these different areas, looking at a range of different global governance challenges and examining how the EU and the GCC can interact in these areas. This paper also suggests that the engagement of different types of actors in diplomatic relations will support the development of cooperation between the EU and the GCC.

The Gulf Labour Market and Migration (GLMM) programme publishes its first paper: “The Demographic and Economic Framework of Migration in Kuwait” by Francoise De Bel-Air. The paper gives a detailed most up-to-date overview using the latest national Kuwaiti statistics. As of December 2012, 68 percent of residents in Kuwait were expatriates. Most come from Asia and especially from India (30 percent of all foreign residents). Three-quarters of expatriates are active. They account for 83 percent of the total active population and 93 percent of the private sector’s workforce. Asians are mainly involved in the services and craft sectors, while Arabs more often fill managerial posts. Recent flows suggest a shift in recruitment policies towards upgrading the workforce’s level of qualifications and occupations. Data also show the extent of forced migration from Kuwait: 400,000 Arabs, most of them of Palestinian origin, were forced to flee the country after the First Gulf War. Also, Kuwait’s stateless residents (the Bidun) have been compelled to emigrate since 1985, while those still in the country are considered illegal residents. The GLMM programme produces an array of publications addressing all major issues in different formats. Initially, it focuses on Facts Sheets, Explanatory Notes and Conference Papers. Subsequently, it will add Research Papers, Policy Briefs, Academic Publications as well as Proceedings & Reports. GLMM is an international independent, non-partisan, non-profit joint programme of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC - Florence) and the Gulf Research Center (GRC - Jeddah, Geneva, Cambridge, Tokyo). GLMM provides data, analyses, and recommendations aiming at a better understanding and improved management of Gulf labour markets and migration, engaging with and respecting the viewpoints of all stakeholders. GLMM intends to become an indispensable tool for researchers, students, policymakers, advocates and migrants in, as well as nationals of the GCC countries.

Rather than just stress the present comfort zones, the essence of this book lies in its emphasis on an institutional and practical approach to diversify relations between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and India beyond the economic realm in future. The prescriptions to realize this from two teams of academic scholars and diplomatic practitioners of the GCC countries and India, who interacted as part of a unique Track 1.5 effort, form the core of the book. Covering the energy, economic, diasporic, political, security, international, social, environmental and cultural dimensions of the relations between the two sides, the chapters outline ways to transform the current engagement into a strategic one. In the process, the book analyzes the ground realities as they are, explores areas to intensify cooperation, identifies obstacles and advocates ways to circumvent them in order to ensure a win-win situation. The fact that the various chapters approach this exercise from different timeframes adds to the novelty of the book. Further, since the effort of all the authors is deliberately geared towards recommending policy-oriented steps to the governments on both sides, it is a treasure trove of workable ideas and options that bears the potential to significantly upgrade GCC-India relations in the short, medium and long terms.

Nuclear proliferation remains one of the key issues of the contemporary global security agenda and one of the major issues of the current strategic configuration of the Middle East. In the Middle East, nuclear proliferation is an issue of concern for two reasons: firstly, because of the degree of potential crisis in a structurally unstable region; secondly, the presence of a particularly evident strategic interdependence and political competition, existing above all between those countries belonging to the geopolitical Islamic space, which raises the risk of miscalculations. Thus, the nuclear issue remains central to the strategic calculations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the European Union (EU). This paper explores the state of relations between the GCC and the EU, the state of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, and the approaches of the EU and the GCC concerning this specific topic. It also outlines some policy options and proposals on how the EU and GCC may foster a more meaningful and effective relationship concerning nuclear non-proliferation.

Since the last decade of the 20th century, there has been an increase in South-South trade, which is also reflected in the trade between the Gulf and Latin American countries. While trade between the two sides grew substantially during the last decade, there are also renewed attempts to cooperate in other fields. The opening of embassies in Latin America by the Gulf countries and vice versa in the last few years, direct flights between Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela to some of the capitals of the Gulf region, investments by the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in some Latin American countries and the holding of the Arab-South American Summits starting from 2005, among other exchanges, reveal the growing convergence of interests between these two regions. This book covers, in particular, an aspect that is often neglected in area studies, namely the exchange as a whole between the two regions, since most studies on these regions tend to focus on the interactions with developed countries or emerging economies such as China and Russia. From a historical, economic and politically strategic point of view, the book offers a critical examination of the foreign policies pursued by the Gulf and Latin American countries in the renewed exchange that is taking place now. Attention is given to the importance that both regions place on the elaboration and implementation of their foreign policies as well as the strategies envisaged. From the Gulf perspective, some of the chapters show how Latin America became a part of the Gulf countries’ search for global engagement, as the result of a process emanating from their own internal and regional needs. From the Latin American perspective, the chapters assess the new strategies and interests which guide the development of closer links with the Gulf against the backdrop of the shifts and continuities of their foreign policies. This volume discusses the different perspectives in the evolution of recent interests and issues at stake in this emerging relationship between the Gulf and Latin American countries.

The main objective of this study is to understand the status quo of the middle class in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study begins by attempting to construct a theoretical framework for understanding the concept of the new middle class, its constituents and various categories, as well as its importance within the socio-economic and political structure. It also explores how the Saudi middle class has emerged historically, its size within the Saudi socio-economic structure, and delineates its different sections, the upper, basic (middle) and peripheral (marginal).

While the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have a prominent global position in terms of their hydrocarbon wealth, their rapid socio-economic development and the soaring pace of energy consumption that feeds such expansion pose real sustainability challenges. The paper explores opportunities and challenges for the region to transition to sustainable energy systems that incorporate clean and renewable energy (RE) technologies. In particular, it examines the readiness of the GCC countries to deploy solar energy solutions in the mid to long term, and looks at different conservation and diversification measures as well as solar energy experimentation undertaken in the region. Giving special attention to the electricity and water sectors, it focuses on the extent to which the GCC countries are seriously pursuing RE opportunities and the obstacles that are preventing faster development and uptake of existing solar technologies and potential solutions. Against this backdrop, it is argued that for a solar energy transition to be successful, it should be tuned to the local socio-economic priorities of the GCC region – centered on competitiveness and economic diversification. The paper tries to come up with specific recommendations on what is needed now and how to pave the way for a long-term solar energy transition that enhances both sustainability and competitiveness of the GCC economies.

As part of its project "Promoting Deeper EU-GCC Relations", the Gulf Research Center (GRC) is releasing a Gulf Paper entitled “EU and GCC Countries’ Foreign Policies and the Mediterranean Neighborhood – Towards Synergetic Cooperation?” by Tobias Schumacher and Irene Fernández Molina. This paper was presented and discussed at an international workshop “Promoting an EU-GCC Dialogue on Foreign Policy Issues” organized by the GRC, the Institute for European Studies from Vrije Universiteit, Brussels, and Qatar University. The workshop was held at the Qatar University, Doha in April 2013. This paper aims to provide a comparative analysis of the EU’s reinforced, yet ongoing, foreign policy engagement in the Arab Mediterranean and the GCC monarchies’ widening foreign policy activism in the region with a particular emphasis on the period after the outbreak of the Arab Spring. It discusses both the extent to which collaboration between the EU and GCC countries in the Arab Mediterranean is possible and the reasons why such collaboration has not yet materialized and is unlikely to occur in the near future. The paper also looks at the evolving role of the EU and GCC countries in their Mediterranean neighborhood and the prospects of EU-GCC cooperation in their common neighborhood space.

As part of its project "Promoting Deeper EU-GCC Relations", the Gulf Research Center (GRC) is releasing a Gulf Paper entitled “What is the Status of the EU-GCC Relationship?” by Dr. Valentina Kostadinova, Lecturer in Politics at the University of Buckingham, UK. This paper was presented and discussed at an international workshop “Promoting an EU-GCC Dialogue on Foreign Policy Issues” organized by the GRC, the Institute for European Studies from Vrije Universiteit, Brussels, and Qatar University. The workshop was held at the Qatar University, Doha in April 2013. Over the years, the multifaceted EU-GCC relationship has been analyzed from the political, economic and security angles. This has provided an overview of the relationship, as well as its positives and negatives. In an effort to go beyond the existing literature, this paper argues that an important aspect of the relationship, so far not explicitly dealt with, has been the divergence in many of the fundamental norms/values held by the two organizations. Arguably, these have led not only to the very different institutional outlooks of the organizations but perhaps even more importantly, to at times (drastically) different social institutions. Thus, the paper provides a convincing complementary perspective on why despite the widely acknowledged commonality of many of the organizations’ interests, the EU-GCC relationship did not develop very smoothly. Furthermore, it points to one substantial area future interactions almost certainly will have to address, if more encouraging outcomes from EU-GCC interactions are to take place. Besides identifying the institutional, structural, material, and normative reasons that are holding back the development of the EU-GCC relationship, the paper discusses the possibilities for these institutionally very different organizations to establish a better working relationship and provides some policy recommendations.

As part of its project "Promoting Deeper EU-GCC Relations", the GRC is releasing a Gulf Paper entitled “EU-GCC Cooperation: Securing the Transition in Yemen” written by Edward Burke, associate fellow at the Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior (FRIDE). This paper was presented and debated last April at Qatar University, Doha as part of a conference organized by the GRC, the Institute for European Studies from Vrije Universiteit, Brussels and Qatar University on an EU-GCC dialogue on foreign policy issues. For the GCC, Yemen is an occasion to develop and prove its ability in terms of foreign politics. For the EU, it is an occasion to develop its relation with the GCC without being in the forefront of interventions in the Yemeni crisis. This paper highlights the GCC involvement in Yemen, its efforts to stabilize the country and its partnership with the EU. It discloses the author’s argument in favor of less region-to-region operations and more bilateral cooperation.

A combination of global political and economic factors helped Asia and the Gulf ‘rediscover’ their ties in the beginning of the 21st century. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries adopted a ‘Look East’ policy, as a result of which India further consolidated its age-old partnership with the region. Against the backdrop of this renewed ‘East-East camaraderie’, this book explores how growing GCC-India economic ties could impact the future course of their relationship. It postulates that the stage is now set for the construction of a strategic GCC-India partnership, including the evolution of a strategic role for India in the region.

In April 2013, the GRC undertook a week-long trip to South Korea and Japan. The visit was planned in conjunction with the opening of the GRC office in Tokyo and to focus on the growing strategic relations between these two countries and the Gulf region. This report provides an assessment of the visit in addition to providing an overview and summary of the many different meetings and events that were held as part of the trip

As part of a larger publication entitled "The Uneasy Balance: Potential and Challenges of the West's Relations with the Gulf States" edited by Riccardo Alcaro and Andrea Dessì and published by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), the chapter entitled "The GCC States and the West: Challenges of Arab Transitions" by Christian Koch is now available for download and further reading. The publication is the result of the fifth edition of the Transatlantic Security Symposium held in Rome on 16 November 2012.

To analyze the events in the Middle East and put them in their proper context, the 10th Gstaad Roundtable under the theme of The Middle East: Change and Upheaval 2012 was held on June 15-17, 2012 in Gstaad, Switzerland. Hosted by the Gulf Research Center (GRC), the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), and the Crown Center at Brandeis University, the meeting brought together 24 renowned regional, security, and policy experts in order to assess the overall situation in the Middle East. The meeting focused on seven major themes ranging from an overall assessment of the geopolitical and regional dynamics at play to the current state and implications of the Arab Revolutions to the more specific issues of the situation in the Levant, Turkey, the Gulf region, and Israel and Palestine. The roundtable concluded with a discussion on the implications of the US election for the Middle East and its consequences for US foreign policy. The attached publication provides a detailed summary of those discussions. The 2013 meeting will be held from June 28-30, 2013.

Asia constitutes the hub of the transformation of global economic power today. The Gulf, itself part of Asia, is of increasing importance in this transformation. This book documents the growing interactions between the economies of the Gulf states and those of the rest of Asia. These relationships are critical to how the world economy develops over the next decade, and how economic (and perhaps strategic) power is distributed. This volume, edited by Tim Niblock with Monica Malik, assembles cutting-edge thinking by 16 specialists on a wide variety of topics covering Arab Gulf relations with China, Japan, ASEAN, Korea and India, as well as with Russia, Iran and Turkey. The book is published by Gerlach Press.

Globalization has multiplied security challenges and significantly reduced the gap between domestic and international security. Security threats that develop within a domestic context can quickly escalate to have an impact beyond borders. Besides, the line between traditional and non-traditional threats to security has become increasingly blurred. New and complex security issues including pandemics, migration, energy security, cyber warfare, and climate change present decision-makers with challenges that need quick and efficient responses. In this context, good governance becomes a key issue. The first annual meeting of the Global Think Tank Security Forum held in Venice, Italy discussed some of the major security challenges facing nations today and provided an overview from regional and transnational perspectives. This volume contains the papers that were presented at the meeting.

The Gulf region continues to be defined by multiple security challenges that have an impact on the outlook for stability in this critical part of the world and beyond. In addition to regional issues such as the Iranian nuclear program, uneven transition in Iraq, and prospects of state failure in Yemen, there are also challenges emanating from terrorism, piracy, transnational crime, and the lack of a regional security architecture. The impact of the Arab Spring since the outset of 2011 has only complicated the effort to bring about a more stable security situation. This paper presents an assessment of the key security issues confronting the Gulf region. It also includes an analysis of developments in Syria as seen from the GCC states.

Abstract: This GCC-Asia bulletin, which is to be produced bi-annually, seeks to address the current information deficit in the area of GCC-Asia relations through analytical and incisive articles. In this issue, the emphasis is on the relationship with Japan.

This paper is primarily aimed at examining the question of why Saudi public opinion, in contradistinction to wider regional trends and despite active promotion of bilateral ties, continues to hold persistent negative attitudes about China. Due to limitations in available surveys and polls, the paper draws on material taken from the Saudi media covering the period 2006-2012 and focusing on a set of political and economic topics with the hope of identifying existing themes and images about China therein. By examining how China is perceived by the press, and how the perceptions are conditioned by political messaging and populist sentiments, this paper hopes to uncover some of the sources underlying the Saudi population’s negative perceptions about China. This study is a preliminary attempt at re-examining some of our widely-accepted beliefs regarding the dynamics shaping Sino-Arab relations, and especially public receptivity towards China.

The Seminar Report for the 2012 Gulf Research Meeting (GRM) held on 11-14 July 2012 at the University of Cambridge has been released. This Seminar Report contains a complete overview of GRM 2012 including the opening ceremony and each of the workshops. GRM 2012 was the largest of the three annual Gulf Research Meetings that have been held so far, underlining the attraction of such an event for the Gulf scholarly community. With the third meeting, the GRM continued the realization of its objective to build and extend the bridge of scholarly and academic excellence, and to promote continued exchange among scholars working on this critical part of the world. With the events that continue to impact the Gulf region as well as the entire Middle East, a proper understanding of the issues continues to be urgent and absolutely necessary. GRM 2012 covered a broad spectrum of critical issues currently facing the Gulf region and consisted of 19 workshops, which brought together about 500 participants, including close to 300 paper presenters and well over 100 listening participants. There was an increased response from scholars and other interested persons from the Gulf region itself.

This analysis sheds light on the present situation in Syria and points out to the current conditions which characterize the Syrian conflict. With every passing day, more innocent lives are lost and more needless destruction is inflicted on the country's infrastructure. The paper discusses also the Munich Security Conference that held recently through which it appeared that the international community paralyzed about finding solution to the undergoing conflict. The paper emphasized on the regime gradual degradation as it is losing control over the country which will lead eventually to a final collapse. Moreover, The Assad regime has lost prestige, credibility, and legitimacy, besides losing power and control on the ground. Furthermore, the continuation of the present impasse for a prolonged period will not only be very costly for the Syrian people but also have devastating regional consequences where a widespread spillover cannot be ruled out.

The Gulf Research Center has released the annual report of its activities for 2012 highlighting the conferences, meetings and project work undertaken during the course of the year. GRC has witnessed during 2012 a lot of activities in terms of organizing different key events and expanding its reach with the opening of a new office in Tokyo, Japan. GRC conducted important events in 2012 including the Gulf Research Meeting that took place in July which gathered almost 500 participants, the first annual Think Tank Security Forum held in Venice in May 2012 which brought together 30 of the leading strategic think tanks of the world, and the Gstaad Middle East Roundtable. It's worth mentioning another key development in the year 2012 represented in GRC’s cooperation with King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah with respect to a series of events and research projects that handled the main issues impacting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All GRC activities in terms of events, participations, publications and other research work are documented in this annual report based on GRC commitment to contribute to the intellectual and research capacity of the entire Gulf region.

The removal of the Kingdom’s Interior Minister after only five months in office is a point of concern for many observers of the Saudi political scene. The sudden move surprised many Saudis both at home and abroad who see it as part of a worrying phenomenon among the Kingdom’s top leadership during the past two years that has already claimed the positions of a number of senior members of the ruling house of al-Saud. Whatever the motivations or reasons and avoiding any speculation, the sudden dismissal of a senior Prince from the key post of Interior Minister cannot be justified by the usual official justifications of ill health, private circumstance, or by an expressed personal desire for retirement. None of these frequently used justifications apply to this case as there was no official explanation. The analysis looks at the recent leadership changes that have taken place at the Saudi Ministry of Interior and also addresses Saudi succession issues.

Following the controversial presidential election in 2009, the political and economic environment in Iran has become increasingly complex. The divide between the conservative and reformist camps has increased, and disagreements have surfaced between Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini and President Ahmadinejad on a number of occasions. In the short run, a major political challenge will come in June 2013 when the country chooses a new president. On the economic front, sanctions have severely impacted the economy, and people’s dissatisfaction has been growing because of rising inflation and unemployment. The divisions among the ruling elite have made it difficult for the government to tackle the economic challenges. This paper analyzes some of the key political and economic events in Iran and tries to outline the emerging scenario in the country.

South Korea and the GCC countries have a multi-faceted and interdependent economic relationship that can be traced back at least to the early 70s. The economic take-off experienced by both sides since then has allowed a new synergy to emerge, mostly based on the twin pillars of energy and technology transfer. South Korea is the GCC’s fifth most important trading partner. In the context of South Korea's growing importance to the economic well-being of the Gulf, as well as its unprecedented involvement in non-traditional ventures such as the nuclear energy projects in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, this paper presents an overview of South Korea-GCC economic relations. It analyzes the different aspects of the relationship from a macro perspective examining both its energy and non-energy dimensions. It provides an insight into the scope and intensity of South Korea-GCC linkages and how they have evolved as a whole.

Since 1990, the Middle East has gained importance geopolitically while the center of gravity of the region has shifted from the Levant to the Gulf. Among the key players in the region is the Islamic Republic of Iran whose revolutionary behavior and ambitious, if ambiguous, nuclear program have added to its neighbors’ anxieties about its goals. However, in the wake of the Arab Spring, Iran has found its influence waning. A new GRC paper points out that widespread regional instability has not been conducive to the extension of Iran’s power or influence. It adds that Tehran now faces a less tractable regional environment with allies weakened and adversaries emboldened.

Given that economic ties between Saudi Arabia and China have grown considerably in the last two decades with energy at the heart of the relationship, a new GRC Paper takes an in-depth look at Sino-Saudi economic relations starting from the late 1980s onwards. In addition to examining the oil and petrochemical partnerships spearheaded by Aramco and SABIC, the paper also includes wider issues such as the role played by Saudi corporate investors and Chinese companies operating in the Kingdom in cultivating this relationship. Besides, the paper highlights some of the comparative advantages and difficulties latent in the various sectors through which this engagement unfolds.

The four volumes in this major research collection address the key economic issues which affect the future development and diversification of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman. Specifically, this recent research covers: ~ Economic Diversification ~ Development of Global Partnerships ~ Labor Markets and Migration ~ Financial Markets as Global Players The work brings together state-of-the-art analysis by some 40 international scholars who participated in a major joint initiative by the EU and the GCC, the al-Jisr project on EU-GCC Public Diplomacy and Outreach headed by the Gulf Research Center and supported by the European Commission. This collection will prove an essential reference work for policy makers and scholars on all the critical issues facing the Gulf countries as their economies develop beyond dependence on the oil and gas sector and forge new international alliances.

Although 2011 was arguably the most difficult year in our young history, I am pleased and proud that the Gulf Research Center (GRC) managed to continue serving those closest to us, those who believed in us, and those who supported us from the beginning. In our continuous effort to supply knowledge for all, we increased our scope from our traditional areas of research to include projects concerning the environment, clean energy and science & technology. This year, our publications were for the first time distributed to five continents, and we managed to enhance and strengthen our global network of academic and commercial partners.