Gulf Politics Research Articles

Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disinformation and Social Media

Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disinformation and Social Media

On the Path of the Prophet in Unsettled Times: Sudan’s Republican Brotherhood Looks Abroad

Mahmoud Mohamed Taha (1909–1985) founded the Republican Brotherhood in the early 1950s to promote social reform through a new understanding of divine revelation which had emerged during his two years of khalwa or retreat. From the 1950s through the 1970s, the Republican Brotherhood attracted a few thousand followers to Ustadh Mahmoud’s teachings, whose foundation was the discipline of tariq Mohamed, “the Path of the Prophet.” This Path was a challenging design for life that embraced gender equality and social justice against the backdrop of an increasingly Islamist-oriented Sudan. In the 1980s, the height of the Brotherhood’s membership, the Republicans confronted Sudan President Gaafar Nimeiry’s imposition of his version of “Islamic Law,” with publications and street corner lectures. Through peaceful protest, the Republican’s point was that Islamic Law would only be oppressive to the millions of non-Muslims in the country and to women. The result of this resistance was the 1985 arrest and execution of Taha for trumped-up charges of apostasy. In the decades following the passing of their teacher, the Republicans have kept a low profile in Sudan while trying to maintain both their faith and some social cohesion. In reaction to both the Islamist political conditions in Sudan and the failing economy, many Republicans have joined the Sudanese flight abroad, with modest communities of Republicans now established in the Gulf States of Qatar and UAE, as well as the United States. Through field work and interviews with members of these three communities, I have tried to understand the effort to sustain the discipline of the Path of the Prophet by Republican brothers and sisters under circumstances of the extremist orientations of Gulf politics, or the “moral ambiguity” of the United States. This study is part of a larger book project on the Republican Brotherhood following the execution of Ustadh Mahmoud.

Dialogues in pandemic politics: COVID-19 and the struggle to re-order relations in the Persian Gulf

Over the past decade, regional politics across the Persian Gulf - and within the GCC in particular - has increasingly been characterised by suspicion and mutual distrust. Predominantly appearing in the guise of tensions between the Arab side of the Gulf on the west and the Iranian side on the east - divisions which are exacerbated by ethnicity, religion, economics, geopolitics, demographics, and geography - are coupled with intra-Arab and intra-GCC tensions about the nature of regional order. Yet at times of crisis, as Michael Barnett (1998) astutely observed, opportunities emerge to reshape the nature of relations. In what follows I reflect on Barnett’s Constructivist take to explore the nature of Persian Gulf politics at a regional level. Other contributors to this special issue take a deeper dive into the intricacies of political, social, economic, governance and human rights concerns and, as such, I will largely steer clear of such observations. Instead, I will engage in a broader set of reflections about the nature of regional order and the impact of the pandemic on changing order.

The Regional Implications of the Gulf Crisis

This article assesses how the decisions taken in and after 2011 in Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh strained and shattered the lingering consensus and common threat perception that had, since 1981, provided a baseline for regional cooperation within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It explores how the rifts after 2011 have hit on weak-points within the GCC in ways that complicate any potential recoherence or “coming-back-together” in anything close to the pre-2017 form. This occurred as the pragmatic flexibility within the GCC was eroded by a “zero-sum” mentality that has split GCC states along multiple lines rather than just a “clean” break over a specific issue. While the relationship between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi has become a new and exclusionary center of gravity in Arab Gulf politics, the article ends by examining the prospects for regional order against the backdrop of a fractured GCC and the prospects for greater balance as the disengagement of US interest accelerates the internationalization of the political economy and international relations of Persian Gulf states.

Regionalism in Crisis: GCC Integration without Democracy

ABSTRACT At the core of “disembedded regionalism” in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is an incapacity to foster more representative forms of politics that are responsive to citizens. Instead, elite-to-elite relations are a salient feature that characterises Gulf politics. A radical re-reading of Jürgen Habermas and John Rawls, applied to the GCC in the first two decades of the 21st century, confirms that top-down management of politics is conducive to conflict and disintegration as against integration, marginalising the agenda of multi-level governance within the subregion. Set against the backdrop of the current blockade/crisis, this critical rendition throws into sharp relief the non-democratic brand of GCC regionalism.

Treading with Caution: China's Multidimensional Interventions in the Gulf Region

AbstractThis article demonstrates the growing adaptability of Chinese foreign policy to Gulf states’ expectations around issues that implicate them directly or are relevant (such as relations with the US, and the wars in Yemen and Syria). Gulf states reacted positively because China's approach incrementally integrated local demands in its strategizing, especially by finding common ground with Gulf states despite their own differences; China has done so while not being tied to a “hegemonic idea” (i.e. it is not trying to control or define Gulf politics). China's incrementalist and non-hegemonic regional approach significantly increased Gulf states’ acceptance of its interventions, adapted to Gulf states’ expectations, and, crucially, has been altering what these states expect of major powers in general. The article concludes by proposing that unfolding Gulf politics in light of the June 2017 GCC crisis is very likely to present China with multiple opportunities to demonstrate the adroitness of its strategic choices vis-à-vis the region.

The SCO’s Strategic Limitations: Situating the Persian Gulf and its American Security Umbrella between Intra-Asian Rivalry and Cooperation

The New Silk Roads between Asia’s largest economies and regions, like the Persian Gulf, which has until now been militarily dominated by the US, have been accompanied by the consolidation of supranational entities like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). With members including China, Russia, India, and Pakistan, some Gulf States are now also interested in membership. This article raises the question of whether the SCO, in light of its members’ growing relevance to the Gulf region, carries the strategic potential to replace the American stability-and-commerce-enabling security umbrella there. The answers demonstrate that intra-Asian cooperation in the Gulf is to an extent hostage to a greater intra-Asian rivalry which would likely be perpetuated by the power vacuum following a possible US withdrawal. The SCO’s greatest strategic value for Gulf politics lies in its mediation potential. This stands a higher chance of success if the US military remains present and fosters a spirit of cooperation between itself and the SCO in the Gulf.

Saudi Clerics and Shiʿa Islam

Saudi Clerics and Shiʿa Islam

Gulf Politics and Economics in a Changing World

Middle East PolicyVolume 21, Issue 4 p. 165-169 REVIEWS Gulf Politics and Economics in a Changing World First published: 08 December 2014 https://doi.org/10.1111/mepo.12108Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Volume21, Issue4Winter 2014Pages 165-169 RelatedInformation

Exploring the interplay between Framing and Securitization theory: the case of the Arab Spring protests in Bahrain

This article advances the theoretical integration between securitization theory and the framing approach, resulting in a set of criteria hereby called security framing. It seeks to make a twofold contribution: to sharpen the study of the ideational elements that underlie the construction of threats, and to advance towards a greater assessment of the audience's preferences. The case study under examination is the 2011 military intervention of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain. The security framing of this case will help illuminate the dynamics at play in one of the most important recent events in Gulf politics.

The Persian Gulf and the Geopolitics of Oil

The United States has become increasingly entangled in Persian Gulf politics and this involvement will have wide-ranging consequences for the geopolitics of oil and its stable flow to world markets...

Minorities and the stateless in Persian Gulf politics

(1993). Minorities and the stateless in Persian Gulf politics. Survival: Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 28-50.

Geopolitics and politics in the Arab Gulf States (GCC)

The Geopolitics of the Arab Gulf region stems out of its geographic location on world important crossroads, and is dominated by its oil wealth which is sought after world-wide. Strategically, the Gulf is in the friction zone of world power. It is also located in the shatter zone of regional power, that is, Arabia, Persia, and India. Active membership in a non-aligned organization represents the official framework of Gulf politics, i.e., the Arab League, Islamic Congress, and the Arab Gulf Co-operation Council. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** ABI02027 00002