Gulf States Research Articles

SHRM Dimensions, Work Engagement and Intention to Quit: LinkedIn As a Data Source

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of strategic human-resource management (SHRM) on employees' intention to quit, mediated by work engagement in the construction sector in GCC countries. The major findings of this study indicate that strategic human-resource management (SHRM) has a direct positive impact on work engagement and an indirect negative impact on employees' intention to quit through work engagement. The study also indicated that work engagement has a direct negative impact on employees' intention to quit. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze data collected from 612 participants via a LinkedIn dataset. All participants work in the construction sector in Gulf States (GCC countries) and are members at LinkedIn as a professional social-networking site. Social-media network LinkedIn was employed to collect the data required for analysis. The study offers evidence and guidance for HRM practitioners for direct HRM practices and SHRM constructs in fostering work engagement and managing employees’ intention to quit. There is a lack of research examining the impact of SHRM and its components on employees’ intention to quit, mediated by work engagement. Thus, this study confirms the argument that SHRM can be an effective approach to influence employees' intention to quit through work engagement.

Liver Cancer in the Middle East and North Africa: Epidemiology, Trends, and Risk Factors

Objectives: Considering the growing concerns about the rising incidence of this cancer in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), this literature review presents the local epidemiology and trends of liver cancer, along with a practical estimation of its epidemiology and contributing risk factors. Design: Review Article. Setting(s): Middle East and North Africa. Outcome Measures: MEDLINE (via PubMed), Scopus, and Web of Science databases, as well as Google Scholar, were searched up to September 2024 using representative keywords and MeSH terms. Studies reporting the epidemiology of liver and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in the region or an analysis of the contributing infectious diseases, non-communicable disorders, genetic predispositions, behavioral aspects, and environmental factors were included. A qualitative synthesis was performed, and the results were presented using thematic narrative synthesis. Results: Liver cancer, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is rapidly growing in the MENA region, driven by a combination of viral hepatitis, underlying metabolic disorders, and environmental exposures. Liver cancer epidemiology varies across the region, with countries like Egypt historically burdened by hepatitis C, while Gulf states experience rising cases linked to metabolic disorders. Projections indicate a continued increase in the incidence of liver cancer due to the ongoing obesity and diabetes epidemics. Conclusions: Despite the success of viral hepatitis management campaigns in some countries, the region faces significant challenges in controlling the rising burden of liver cancer related to metabolic disorders. Prevention strategies should focus on lifestyle and dietary interventions, alongside the need for improved cancer registries, better data collection, and policy reforms. A multidisciplinary approach, combining public health initiatives and targeted healthcare improvements, is essential to reduce regional liver cancer incidence and improve outcomes.

Beyond hedging: China’s strategic ‘outbidding’ strategy in the semi-hierarchical Gulf region

The prevailing analytical approach within international relations scholarship has primarily framed China’s growing involvement in the Gulf region through a hedging strategy. Although this framework offers explanatory value, it misses the impact of China’s search for international hierarchy and Sino-US rivalry for subordinates in shaping China’s strategic policy choices in the Gulf. This article, anchored in hierarchy studies in international relations, posits that the intensifying global competition between the United States and China for influence over subordinate states has driven China to pursue an ‘outbidding’ strategy. In applying this approach, China provides Gulf states with more appealing economic, military, and technological incentives than the United States. Since Xi Jinping’s ascension to power in 2013, China has considerably expanded its regional influence by investing heavily in this strategy. However, the long-term effectiveness of this strategy hinges on overcoming two key constraints inherent to the semi-hierarchical order of the Gulf: the distinct strategic considerations of US allies and non-allies and the balancing dilemma that China confronts. This article substantiates its claims by analyzing official statements, policy documents, and academic literature on China’s Gulf policy.

Harmonising liability: exploring carrier responsibilities in transportation contracts and their application to autonomous vehicle services under the UAE Law

ABSTRACT This article introduces the challenges presented in establishing governance of autonomous vehicles, dealing with questions of liability, where domestic law needs to cohere with international transport conventions, Islamic jurisprudence, Supreme Court jurisprudence, and technical safety standards. The primary objective of the article is to assess the applicability of established legal norms governing carrier liability in traditional road transport contracts in the United Arab Emirates. These legal tenets, rooted in Islamic jurisprudence and drawn from historical sources such as the ‘Al-Ahkam Al-Adliya Journal,’ constitute the foundation of civil law in numerous Arab countries, including the Arab Gulf States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and others. Melding legal and technical perspectives, this study provides legal insights for judges, arbitrators, and legal practitioners, and offers solutions to the liability challenges that may arise when autonomous vehicles begin operating on UAE streets or any other Arab country.

Women Rights in the Arab Gulf States: Impact of 9/11 and Arab Uprisings

Women Rights in the Arab Gulf States: Impact of 9/11 and Arab Uprisings

Understanding change in Egypt’s social contract since 2011

ABSTRACT This paper applies the Loewe, et al. framework (2024) to the Egyptian case from 2011 to the present. It finds that this framework could be strengthened by further exploring the following drivers of change in social contracts: - balance of power within the state. In the Egyptian case, a longstanding informal contract between the Presidency and the military collapsed in 2011. The new contract between the Presidency and the military that emerged after 2013 altered the elite coalition that underlay the regime and led to change in the social contract; - structure of the labor market. The Sisi regime faced a labor market that was divided into core insiders, legacy insiders, and outsiders. It revised the social contract to direct substantial support to core insiders while reducing support to legacy insiders. Outsiders were left with even less state support. - new technologies of repression enabled the regime to monitor society more extensively, target repression more effectively, and shape the public sphere in a manner supportive of the new social contract; - international sponsors. The Gulf states and China provided financial and military assistance that buttressed the revised social contract.

Centers of power in the Arab Gulf states

Centers of power in the Arab Gulf states

The Resource Curse in the Gulf Region: Charting a Path for Long-term Economic Sustainability

The economies of the Gulf States have been reliant on abundant petroleum resources for over a century. The region has experienced substantial economic success in recent decades, attributed to its competitive advantage as the world's oil empire. This success is especially noteworthy given that oil is a major economic resource in the area. However, a new debate has emerged, focusing on the concept of the resource curse resulting from the overdependence of Gulf economies on the petrol dollar. This reliance jeopardizes the long-term and future economic sustainability of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. This piece employs a narrative literature review to illustrate how petroleum has shaped the economic landscape, and also the oil market volatility on the economic landscape of the region. The review emphasizes on the necessity for the region to shift its economic and institutional over-dependence away from the petrol dollar to other sustainable alternative economic domains. The review proposes strategic economic directions to guide the region towards a diversified and sustainable economic portfolio, reflecting significant potential for the economy of the region and its states. Sustainable economic development portfolios such as sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, smart cities, real estate development, sports, banking, tourism, and travel were analyzed.

Oil, gold, and guns: The violent politics of Sudan’s resource re-curse

The green transition and slowdown of global fossil fuel demand present an intriguing question for the future of oil-rich developing countries where less democracy, unstable and inequitable economics, and conflict have long been prevalent. Sudan offers an ex-ante look at the consequences of this transition to a post-oil world. In 2011, Sudan lost three-quarters of its oil resources after South Sudan’s separation. This article explores the impact of decarbonization on Sudan’s political economy and the role of natural resources in shaping its elite politics and foreign relations. It argues that in the short term and mid-term, the Sudanese state was able to weather the loss of most of its oil, with incumbent political elites demonstrating staying power beyond the expiry date of high oil rents. In the long term, however, rather than a diversified economy and democratic alternative emerging, both Sudan’s longstanding predatory political economy and its external exploitative links endured the decline of oil. The rising economic importance of gold, and its political ecology as a dispersed and lootable resource, coupled with opportunities for regional extraversion facilitated the violent rise of new political elites and shaped a shift in Sudan’s main foreign economic partners from China to the Gulf states.

The politics of Gulf foreign aid: from survival and solidarity to political and military influence

This article critically examines the shifting dynamics of foreign aid politics within the Gulf states. Historically rooted in cultural factors and solidarity with Arab and Muslim nations, foreign aid from prominent donors such as the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has undergone a profound transformation. Their aid has evolved from solidarity aid into an effective instrument of foreign policy, used strategically to project power and expand regional influence. This shift has not only redefined the role of Gulf countries in international and regional politics but has also catalysed the transformation of states in the broader Middle East. This article, therefore, seeks to answer the following two questions: (1) How do we explain the evolution of the politicisation of Gulf foreign aid? and (2) To what extent has the provision of Gulf foreign aid been a crucial determinant of changing regional dynamics in the Middle East, particularly since the Arab uprisings in 2011? It argues that Gulf donors have become crucial power brokers, shaping the politics and trajectories of key states such as Egypt post 2011. Their substantial financial assistance has proven instrumental in steering political and socio-economic transformations, highlighting the pivotal role of Gulf aid in shaping regional affairs.

Eco-Feminism and Translation: A Critical Reading of Abdel Rahman Munif's Cities of Salt

The complexities of language, society, and artistic expressions make literary works like novels difficult to translate. Translators encounter several problems such as cultural subtleties, colloquial idioms, distinctive writing styles, and other poetic aspects. Literary translation is a challenging process that necessitates a profound comprehension of the cultural and contextual nuances of the source material in addition to language proficiency. The Arabic novel Cities of Salt was written by Abdelrahman Munif, and was successfully translated into several languages, including English. Peter Theroux completed the English translation that was initially released in 1987, and he is the one who paved the way for opening up Munif's writing to a wider English-speaking community. The translated version preserves the novel's exploration of the impact of the oil industry on an unnamed Arab Gulf state and its reflection on the profound social, economic, and cultural changes brought about by rapid industrialization. Cities of Salt by Abdul Rahman Munif is a rich exploration of environmental exploitation and gender dynamics in the context of the Arab Gulf region's transformation due to the oil industry. The novel offers a nuanced portrayal of the interconnected challenges faced by communities grappling with rapid industrialization and its far-reaching consequences on both the environment and societal structures, including gender roles. Moreover, this research paper reveals how the exploitation of land mirrors the exploitation of women. The destruction of the environment echoes the silencing and erasure of women's voices and agency. Through an eco-feminist lens, the paper exposes the interconnectedness between the oppression of nature and the oppression of women, both subjected to exploitation, commodification, and dispossession. Because this novel is a quintet, this paper examines excerpts from the first volume, Al-Teeh, which better fit the study’s argument.

Methods Using Marine Aquatic Photoautotrophs along the Qatari Coastline to Remediate Oil and Gas Industrial Water.

Qatar and other Gulf States have a diverse range of marine vegetation that is adapted to the stressful environmental conditions of seawater. The industrial wastewater produced by oil and gas activities adds further detrimental conditions for marine aquatic photosynthetic organisms on the Qatari coastlines. Thus, these organisms experience severe stress from both seawater and industrial wastewater. This review discusses the biodiversity in seawater around Qatar, as well as remediation methods and metabolic pathways to reduce the negative impacts of heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons produced during these activities. The role of microorganisms that are adjacent to or associated with these aquatic marine organisms is discussed. Exudates that are released by plant roots enhance the role of microorganisms to degrade organic pollutants and immobilize heavy metals. Seaweeds may have other roles such as biosorption and nutrient uptake of extra essential elements to avoid or reduce eutrophication in marine environments. Special attention is paid to mangrove forests and their roles in remediating shores polluted by industrial wastewater. Seagrasses (Halodule uninervis, Halophila ovalis, and Thalassia hemprichii) can be used as promising candidates for phytoremediation or bioindicators for pollution status. Some genera among seaweeds that have proven efficient in accumulating the most common heavy metals found in gas activities and biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons are discussed.

Róg Afryki jako pole rywalizacji pomiędzy państwami regionu Zatoki Perskiej w latach 2014-2023

THE HORN OF AFRICA AS THE FIELD OF RIVALRY BETWEEN THE GULF STATES 2014-2023 The Horn of Africa region gained particular importance for the Gulf states after the Arab Spring, and especially after the outbreak of the civil war in Yemen. While the Gulf states mainly sought to use their financial resources to pursue security interests and strengthen their position in the international arena, the governments of the Horn of Africa countries cooperated primarily for the benefit of domestic policy. Building on the theory of regional security complexes, the article attempts to answer the question of how the rivalry between the Gulf states influenced their policies towards the countries of the Horn of Africa and what effects it had on the stability and security in this region.

Current political uses of sport revised: beyond public diplomacy and sportswashing.

The successful emergence of the Gulf states as central players in the global sporting ecosystem has revived the intellectual debate on the political and diplomatic use of sport. In the last decade, the amount of research on the topic have radically increase. The old narrative traditions explaining sport diplomacy have recently been joined by a new set of literature about the concept of sportswashing, which questions the place of non-democratic governments in the sporting world. Considering that current approaches are somehow limited to explain the real scope of the situation, this article proposes a new systematization of the political and diplomatic use of sport today, differentiating between practices, actors, and objectives. The aim is to demonstrate how sport as a tool of soft power has transcended the limits of public diplomacy and goes far beyond the simplistic and preconceptual analysis developed by authors who support the concept of sportswashing. The new conceptual framework warns that the politicization of sport is not always positive and shows how some political practices can jeopardies the core values of sport and delegitimize its positive aspect. The results open a new agenda for political science research on a topic that, despite its interest and importance, remains understudied.

Islamic Law, Oil Wealth, and the Modern State in the Gulf: The Scope of the Sharia in Twentieth-Century Qatar

Abstract How can one write the modern legal history of the Gulf states without projecting onto the past the contemporary hegemony of the modern nation-state? What narratives other than secularization stories might be told? And what archives are available to us to facilitate such an endeavor? This paper addresses these questions with reference to Qatar, where a powerful sharia judiciary developed under the British Protectorate maintained its autonomy until the 1990s. The publications of the Presidency of Sharia Courts (est. 1958) and the work of its long-time president, Shaykh ʿAbdallāh b. Zayd Āl Maḥmūd (1911–97), suggest that oil wealth, modern state bureaucracy, and the British legal order expanded – rather than curtailed – the scope of sharia law in Qatar in the course of the twentieth century. Sharia scholars and institutions reinforced the rule of law, contributed to minimizing the role of customary norms in society, replaced commercial courts and alternative modes of dispute resolution, and helped establish an autonomous legal sphere separate from political power.

The Influences of Ambidexterity, New Public Management and Innovation on the Public Service Quality of Government Organizations

This study assesses the influences of organizational ambidexterity and new public management (NPM) innovations on public service quality in the under-researched and changing context of the Arabian Peninsula Gulf States. The data used were obtained from government organizations in the Sultanate of Oman and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that exploitation is associated with public service quality and this relationship is partially mediated by public service innovation. The results show an indirect relationship between NPM practices and service quality mediated by service innovation. Moreover, the relationship between exploration and service quality is fully mediated by service innovation. This study extends the existing research on ambidexterity in government organizations and contributes to the international public administration reform and innovation literature by examining the applicability of Western practices in changing societal and politico-administrative cultures.

Political, Economic, Educational, and Social Reforms in the Arab Gulf States: Various Aspects of American Governmental Democracy Promotion

Political, Economic, Educational, and Social Reforms in the Arab Gulf States: Various Aspects of American Governmental Democracy Promotion

Constructing smart cities through the use of public-private partnerships: The case of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates

This article analyses the case of Dubai’s smart city from a public policy perspective and demonstrates how critical it is to rely on the use of the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Effective use of this model can guarantee the building of a smart city that could potentially fulfill the vision of the political leadership in Dubai and serve as a catalyst and blueprint for other Gulf states that wish to follow Dubai’s example. This article argues that Dubai’s smart city project enjoys significant political support and has ambitious plans for sustainable growth, and that the government has invested heavily in developing the necessary institutional, legal/regulatory, and supervisory frameworks that are essential foundations for the success of any PPP project. The article also points to some important insights that the Dubai government can learn from the international experience with the delivery of smart cities through PPPs.

Imperialism after decolonization? British relations with Bahrain from the withdrawal East of Suez to the Iranian Revolution

There is a growing consensus that the end of empire did not necessarily equate with a severing of imperial ties. Some historians have even argued that there was a shift from formal to informal empire in Britain’s relations with the emerging Gulf States. This is especially so with respect to Bahrain which had represented the epicentre of Britain’s position in the Gulf. Nevertheless, an analysis of British relations with Bahrain from the withdrawal East of Suez to the Iranian Revolution belies any notion that Britain succeeded in establishing an informal imperial position after 1971. Not only were Britain’s economic interests in Bahrain eroded by growing competition from its industrial rivals, but also its political and military position was challenged by the encroachment of regional powers. Any hope that Britain could retain an imperial role in Bahrain was undermined still further by the emergence of new internal political forces in Bahrain beyond the direct control of either the ruling family or Britain itself. The unfeasibility of maintaining an imperial relationship with Bahrain after 1971 persuaded British policymakers to seek to establish recognizably post-imperial relations with the Emirate in the decade following the withdrawal from East of Suez.

Examining the Impact of Pakistan-China Energy Collaborations on Poverty Reduction in Pakistan

The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a pivotal bilateral initiative aimed at alleviating poverty in Pakistan by enhancing its energy infrastructure. This project focuses on developing crucial energy resources through the construction of power plants and the expansion of transmission networks, ensuring stable, affordable, and sustainable energy supply nationwide. This paper investigates CPEC's role in diversifying Pakistan's energy mix, integrating both conventional and renewable sources such as hydroelectric, coal, solar, wind, and nuclear power. This diversification aims to decrease Pakistan’s dependence on costly energy imports from the Gulf States, thereby improving energy security and promoting economic independence, essential for regional poverty alleviation. Utilizing qualitative research methodologies, this study examines the extensive social and economic impacts of these energy developments. By synthesizing various secondary data sources and applying thematic analysis, the research evaluates how enhanced energy security through CPEC can drive socio-economic progress and reduce poverty in Pakistan. The study offers valuable insights into energy geopolitics and economic development strategies, underscoring the significance of international energy partnerships like CPEC in transforming energy infrastructures and fostering economic growth in developing nations. Through detailed analysis, the paper highlights CPEC as a critical economic lifeline, essential for boosting Pakistan's energy self-sufficiency and accelerating economic growth. Consequently, CPEC emerges as a vital element in the broader strategy for poverty mitigation in Pakistan, emphasizing its importance in sustainable development and international economic cooperation.