Gulf Security: From zero-sum games to regional cooperation? (original) (raw)

Security in the Persian Gulf

2020

the past half-century, merely a moment in the long history of the GulE As Kuwaiti historian Muhammad Rumaihi reminds us, "The Gulf is not oil. The Gulf is its people and its land. So it was before the discovery of oil, and so it will remain when the oil disappears. Oil is no more than a historical phase in this part of the Arab world-and a rather short one at that."3 It is the consequence of this oil wealth-what it has done to society and how it has affected political life and thus the security of the littoral states-that concerns the authors of this volume. It is an aim of Gulf/2000 to consider long-term trends in the Gulf, not to restrict analysis to anyone state but rather to focus on the region as a whole. The modern state system in the region is largely a product of the twentieth century; of the littoral states only Iran and Oman have distinct historical identities. The most serious challenges facing the Gulf states today are the domestic ones they all share, including weak economies, rising unemployment, the threat of political Islam, and demands for greater political participation, even democratization. 4 All these states depend heavily on revenues from petroleum exports, which are highly uncertain: while at record highs in 2000, they were at record lows in 1998. The long-term regional perspective is important, yet often missing in people's mindset as well as recent analyses. Historically the Gulf was an integrated region characterized by the constant interchange of people, commerce, and religious movements. Before the modern era, peoples of the region shared a maritime culture based on pearling, fishing, and long-distance trade. In cities such as Kuwait, large merchant families arose that established trade networks both within the Gulf and throughout the larger Indian Ocean region. Because of physical impediments such as mountains and deserts, in the past people living on the shores of the Gulf had closer relations with each other than with those living in the interior. All of this led to a certain mutual tolerance and helped to create a common Gulf identity. Over the past century or more, however, this Gulf or khaliji identity has been obscured by a sense of separateness that was fostered by a century and a half of British hegemony followed by the rise of new national states. 5 In the Gulf today there is a widespread feeling of vulnerability and a sense that local actors are not in control of their own destiny. This is reflected in the chapter by Abdullah K. Alshayji, a political scientist from Kuwait. Rather, the three largest players, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, have competed for hegemony as the smaller, more vulnerable Arab monarchies have turned to the United States for protection. The American attempt to exclude the two largest regional states, Iran and Iraq, from regional affairs is surely untenable over the long term and has postponed the moment when the Gulf residents will have to face their own future and devise their own security system. Iraq is eager to reclaim what it sees as its rightful role in the Gulf, as noted in the paper by Raad Alkadiri, and its neighbors will have to find a way to accommodate this desire. Starting in the autumn of 2000, Iraq took advantage of the revival of the Palestinian intifada to reassert its political role in regional affairs. 6 One of the main sources of instability in the Gulf region is unsettled borders and boundary disputes, largely arising from the colonial powers' redrawing the map of the Middle East after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Iraq's sense of grievance over its boundaries with Iran and Kuwait led directly to the two most destructive regional conflicts in the twentieth century-the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq (1980-88) and the Allied coalition's campaign to evict the Iraqi army from Kuwait (1990-91). Border disputes in the region, however, are increasingly being settled, partly in order to facilitate oil operations. 7 One of the most dramatic examples

Globalization of Security in the Persian Gulf

IRANIAN REVIEW OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 2012

This paper intends to point out that threats and problems related to security and stability are common and affect the entire sub-regional system, necessitating common responses. The paper is structured in three parts. In the first part this paper intends to analyse and explain the concept of security, demonstrating that from a theoretical point of view, it must not be considered as a univocal problem, but regrouping different aspects. The second part of the paper analyses the many sources of instability affecting the Persian Gulf region today, with unavoidable consequences seen in the neighbouring sub-regional systems, such as the Caucasus, Central Asia, European Union, India and China. In the third part this paper will propose some theoretical ideas and pragmatic mechanisms aimed at suggesting different solutions to the issues analysed above. There will also be a review of the proposal for the creation of a common market involving Iran and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as a prelude to a monetary union modelled on the experiences and results of the Euro. The effects of an end to the embargo on Iran will also be assessed. As for military security, I will assess whether the realisation of a sort of a Persian Gulf version of NATO would be possible.

The Persian Gulf has been a region of geopolitical importanc

2012

This article focuses on the security architecture of the Persian Gulf. Since the British left the Persian Gulf in 1971, maintaining the security of this strategic body of water has been a major concern for the governments of the region and for those who depend on energy supply from this region. Four decades later, after a revolution, three major wars, and regime changes in the region, defining a security system for the Persian Gulf remains a significant challenge. This article reviews the past security arrangements in the Persian Gulf and proposes a new framework for Persian Gulf security. Study of previous and current security patterns in the region reveal that the existing security frameworks have failed to ensure stability and led to massive direct military confrontations in the Persian Gulf. The authors argue that the failed strategies and theories of balance of power and arms race would intensify the atmosphere of mistrust and animosity in the region. They suggest that any meaningful security arrangement should involve all major regional actors the Persian Gulf. They conclude that common security can only be achieved through comprehensive security architecture in the region. Although they insist that achieving this objective needs confidence-building measures to be considered by regional actors.

Alternative Strategies to Gulf Security in 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission in writing of the copyright holder. ISBN 1 84051 061 7 Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies 3 rd Floor, 46 Gray's Inn Road, Website: www.gcss.org.bh 5 4-Interwoven security issues in the Gulf area 7 Chapter Two: The current security situation in the region 9 I-The regional security issues 1 The security file on Iraq 9 2 The new reality of regional power equilibrium 12 3 The Iranian nuclear file and issues of nuclear proliferation 13 II-The interior security issues 1 Terrorism and the escalation of extremist fundamentalism 18 in the region 2 Energy security 20 3 Issues connected with political reform and democratic conversion 22 III-The cluster of issues related to the relation between the security of the region 23 and the wider regional, global and international security Chapter Three: The future of security measures in the Gulf 25 region and available security options 1-The national option (self-dependence option) 26 2-The Regional alternative 27 3-The Arab alternative 29 4-The foreign alternative (Western guarantee) 30 Chapter Four: Towards a proposed strategy for Gulf security 32 1-The national level 33 2-The Arab level 35 3-The regional level 35 4-The international level 37

The Security of the Persian Gulf after the Arab Revolutions

The Arab revolutions have changed the political and security landscape of the Persian Gulf. The upheavals have altered the sources of threats states used to feel from those emanating from outside the internal ones; the unrest in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia has proved that the sources of tension for the Arab states are quite societal. As a result, the old Arab tactic of attribution of domestic challenges to alleged Iranian interventionism is now obsolete. The traditional role played by the regional powers is also affected and the regional alignments are in flux. The overthrow of the Mubarak regime along with the U.S middle of the way approach during the Arab revolutions have elevated Iran's stance in the Persian Gulf at the expense of the U.S and the GCC. Moreover, the security interdependence of the Persian Gulf states, particularly among the GCC, is tightened and in the face of increasing security challenges, the monarchical bloc is revitalized with the aim to buttress Arab regimes. All the said developments are the subject of examination in this article through application of the regional security complex (RSC) theory.