The GCC in the Eastern Mediterranean: Growing Significance, Competing Agendas IN THE SCRAMBLE FOR THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (Institute for International Political Studies, ISPI - Italy) (original) (raw)
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GMF Mediterranean Papers, No. 17 (June 2012), 2012
As the Mediterranean changes, old and new regional and international players are reacting, vying to gain, retain, or remould their sources of influence over a region in flux. Of these, particularly critical are the roles of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Turkey, on which this report focuses. The roles of the GCC and Turkey in the post-Arab Spring Maghreb are both very different and deeply intertwined.
The fact that the American credibility has faced a remarkable challenge since the war in Iraq has pushed Turkey to look for partners sharing same concerns and common objectives regarding the Gulf region. The states forming the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been the partners that Turkey was looking for. Indeed, Turkey became the first single country with which the GCC signed a memorandum of understanding in September 2008. This chapter attempts to look into various dimensions of Turkey-GCC relations after 2008. The paper starts from the statement that the signing of this memorandum in 2008 was mainly based on strategic needs resulting from the war in Iraq. Notwithstanding this, it is argued that the motive lying behind the developments following the signing of memorandum goes beyond structural needs. However, the paper concludes by revealing prospective problems that may arise in relations between Turkey and the GCC in the short and long terms.
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1. Introduction PART I: CONFLICT AND COOPERATION IN THE GULF 2. The Changing Dynamic of American-GCC Relations 3. The Gulf Cooperation Council: from cooperation to unity? 4. Defense cooperation in the GCC Part II: THE GULF STATES AND IRAN 5. Saudi Arabia 6. Kuwait 7. Qatar 8. The United Arab Emirates 9. Bahrain 10. Oman 11. The other 'Gulf' state: Yemen Part III: STABILITY AND THE 'ARAB SPRING' Part IV: IS THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY MY FRIEND? ISRAEL AND THE GULF STATES 12. Conclusion: The Rising Gulf Appendix: Major Events in the history of the Gulf states
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The Arab world is currently undergoing a period of tremendous transformation, which has a direct impact on the European Union (EU) given its close geographical proximity and its involvement in the region through programmes such as the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Union for the Mediterranean. But while the changes in North Africa and the Levant receive a fair amount of focus, less attention is paid to the changes and developments taking place in the Arab Gulf region. There is a dearth of analysis on how the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states 1 view and react to the changes taking place in the rest of the Middle East. Only through a proper understanding of Gulf dynamics can productive ties with the EU be enhanced. This publication addresses some of the issues discussed at a seminar on 'Political transformation in the Arab world and its relevance for EU-GCC relations', held in Kuwait in March 2013. Under the project 'Promoting deeper EU-GCC relations', funded by the European Commission, FRIDE, the Gulf Research Center and the Gulf University for Science and Technology brought together scholars from the Gulf region, as well as European and US experts, to discuss the
Regional and International Powers in the Gulf Security
Regional and International Powers in the Gulf Security, 2020
The Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, and the US invasion and occupation of Iraq have dramatically altered the geopolitical landscape of the contemporary Middle East. The Arab Spring uprisings have complicated this picture. This series puts forward a critical body of first-rate scholarship that reflects the current political and social realities of the region, focusing on original research about contentious politics and social movements; political institutions; the role played by non-governmental organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood; and the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Other themes of interest include Iran and Turkey as emerging pre-eminent powers in the region, the former an 'Islamic Republic' and the latter an emerging democracy currently governed by a party with Islamic roots; the Gulf monarchies, their petrol economies and regional ambitions; potential problems of nuclear proliferation in the region; and the challenges confronting the United States, Europe, and the United Nations in the greater Middle East. The focus of the series is on general topics such as social turmoil, war and revolution, international relations, occupation, radicalism, democracy, human rights, and Islam as a political force in the context of the modern Middle East.
The Arab Spring: the Changing Dynamics of West-GCC Cooperation
The Uneasy Balance. Potential and Challenges of the West's Relations with the Gulf States, edited by Riccardo Alcaro and Andrea Dessì, IAI Research Papers No. 8, April 2013.
Thanks to strong intergovernmental contacts, trading interests and the personalised relationships that have characterised Gulf-West alliances, shared priorities concerning regional security and stability have survived a number of setbacks and disappointments over more than fifty years. Furthermore, so far, the EU-US-GCC relationship has survived the testing times of the Arab uprisings. The greater involvement of Gulf actors in the application of their own strategies and priorities across the MENA region may, in practice, highlight increasing divergences in the real national and regional interests of states on both sides of the West-GCC divide. In the longer term, questions remain over whether the foundations of this relationship can survive the challenges of global and regional changes. This chapter is extracted from The Uneasy Balance. Potential and Challenges of the West's Relations with the Gulf States, edited by Riccardo Alcaro and Andrea Dessì, IAI Research Papers No. 8, April 2013. - See more at: http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/191727#sthash.4pinQifR.dpuf