Strategic Hedging in the Arab Peninsula: The Politics of the Gulf-Asian Rapprochement offers a new perspective on the geopolitics of Gulf-Asian relations. Jean-Loup Samaan explores the dynamics underpinning the evolution of strategic partnerships between the Gulf States and Asian partners. He looks at how Gulf countries have pursued a diversification strategy in response to the risk of a potential retreat from the region on the part of traditional partners such as the US, and argues that, rather than being the result of a deliberate common policy on the part of the Gulf States, this trend derives from unilateral choices by Gulf leaders, best explained by the concept of ‘strategic hedging’.

In the last decade, rulers in Gulf regimes have aspired to greater strategic autonomy and distance from the West. Coined the "Gulf moment" by local commentators, this regional trend reflects a redistribution of power in the Arab world. This is the first book to examine the military dimensions of these shifts. Gulf military strategy has prioritised the improvement of local armed forces and the diversification of defence partnerships towards countries such as Russia, Turkey or China. However, this book shows how this has led to the militarisation of Gulf societies, the further erosion of multilateral initiatives - including the Gulf Cooperation Council - and the Gulf's perilous involvement in the war in Yemen. The book also highlights enduring reliance on the West. Each chapter covers a key aspect of defence policy from governance of armed forces, military education and power projection capabilities to regional security cooperation and lessons from warfighting experiences. Close attention is paid to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, countries that have enjoyed prominent roles in the region's security affairs during the last ten years. The research is based on extensive fieldwork and interviews with major decision-makers, officials, and diplomatic and military representatives. It is also uses recently declassified official documents to gain rare insight into what Gulf countries intend for their defence policies.

The book is 10th in the Persian Gulf Series by Middle East Institute, New Delhi (MEI@ND) and 5th with Springer Nature. It focuses on regional developments in the Gulf and India’s relations with the region in the preceding years; hence, Persian Gulf 2023 focuses on events in 2022. The broad subject of the book is Indian foreign policy and international relations. The book is based on opensource data, statistics, and information including government and international organisations’ reports, reports published by important consultancy and research institutions focused on the Gulf region, news and media reports published in the Gulf region and India and should be of great interest to analysts, academics, journalists, students, and practitioners. Each chapter in the book has several tables and figures on economic indicators, bilateral trade, and energy-related developments. It is a reference work for anyone interested in the Gulf region and at the same time it offers valuable policy recommendations. Hence, it has both academic and policy relevance.

This book focuses on the Indo-Pacific region’s growing prominence as the world’s major powers gravitate toward this space to expand their influence. With dynamic shifts taking place in the globe’s most strategically volatile region, Indo-Pacific Strategies aims at clarifying the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific, expounded both as a strategic concept and nascent region, thus contributing to the burgeoning policy and academic debate. The book offers indispensable insights and appropriate remedies to maintain the rules-based international order as threatened by China’s increasingly assertive and bellicose posturing. It offers up-to-date analyses of Covid-19-related geopolitical trends, the strategies of various Indo-Pacific states against the backdrop of great power competition, the increasingly confrontational stance of Indo-Pacific states against China and the 2020 US election results. This unique book presents deep insights into the roles of Eurasia, small island states, the Middle East and Africa, in addition to Australia, India, Japan and the US, thereby providing much needed comparative studies. It also closely investigates the strategic and tactical operationalization of the Indo-Pacific, making it an essential read for scholars, policymakers, students, and strategists in the field of international politics and Area Studies. Excerpt from the foreword by ABE Shinzō, (former) Prime Minister of Japan "I think this book is the timeliest attempt to bring together the wisdom of eleven people to present a multifaceted view of the FOIP [Free and Open Indo-Pacific]. As a reader, I would like to express my gratitude to the editors and contributors for their valuable intellectual contributions." See the preview function on this website to access the full text.

Gulf stability is coming to play a larger role in the foreign policy calculus of many states, but the evolving role of Asian powers is largely under-represented in the International Relations literature. This volume addresses this gap with a set of empirically rich, theory driven case studies written by academics from or based in the countries in question. The underlying assumption is not that Asian powers have already become important security actors in the Gulf, but rather that they perceive the Gulf as a region of increasing strategic relevance. How will leaders in these countries adjust to an evolving regional framework? Will there be coordinated efforts to establish an Asian-centered approach to Gulf stability, or will Asian rivalries make the region a theater of competition? Will US–China tensions force alignment choices among Asian powers? Will Asian states balance, bandwagon, hedge, or adopt some other approach to their Gulf relationships? These questions become even more important as the western boundaries of Asia increasingly come to incorporate the Middle East. The book will appeal to scholars and students in the fields of International Relations, Security Studies, and International Political Economy, as well as area specialists on the Gulf and those working on foreign policy issues on each of the Asian countries included. Professionals in government and non-government agencies will also find it very useful. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

The 2010s were a decade of transformation and conflict in the Middle East, bookended by the Arab Uprisings and the coronavirus pandemic. Throughout this time, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar--the three Arab states with the most ambitious regional policies--declared stability to be their main objective. Yet, rather than being a common denominator, this seemingly shared goal in fact obscured differences between their often-competing agendas. These three Gulf monarchies all agreed that the Middle East had descended into unprecedented and dangerous instability following the Arab Uprisings. But their assessments diverged on what characterized and drove the unrest. This led each country to formulate different--and at times contradictory--views of how politics should be organized in and between states in the region, and what role external powers should play to build a stable new order. With no universally accepted definition of stability, this book develops an original analytical framework linking this concept to that of order, and provides a useful lens through which to understand foreign policy in the Gulf. While governments often frame their relations with other states by evoking a joint commitment to stability, Tobias Borck shows that this does not, in itself, imply strategic alignment.

This book analyses the emergence of the Indian Ocean as security complex and a strategic space of central importance and also looks at its prospective future. As well as US-China rivalry, the India-China rivalry is now the defining factor in the Indian Ocean – irrespective of the strategic asymmetry. This new situation has opened a space for middle-powers, old and new, to intervene. The authors argue that this situation may turn into an additional source of instability and that the creation of an inclusive and comprehensive regional security architecture, as well as the strengthening of regional multilateralism, should be the priority of all stakeholders in the coming decade.

This report examines what binds and divides the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—and presents the outlook for the GCC’s evolution over the next ten years. The study aims to help policymakers better understand intra-GCC dynamics and prepare for future trends in a region with high stakes for U.S. strategic interests.

The shift in international relations towards multipolarity has had profound implications across the world, but particularly in highly penetrated regions, such as the Middle East. This book explores the rivalry between the United States, Russia, and China in the region, investigating its effects and assessing the influence of regional actors and issues. Each chapter offers a comprehensive analysis of three core questions: how does global power competition manifest itself?; how does it impact regional political, economic, and security dynamics?; and how do regional actors and issues influence the trajectory and dynamics of global power competition? Expert international contributors take a country case study approach to consider these questions and investigate the most pressing contemporary events, issues, and trends in Middle Eastern politics. Tackling transregional and global issues and themes they analyse the convergence, divergence, and competition between global powers in managing threats and interests such as terrorism, energy and cyber security, nuclear non-proliferation, conflict resolution, and warfare. This volume will appeal to scholars and students of international relations, great power competition, China, Russia, the USA, and the Middle East.

This Whitehall Paper explores the evolution of Gulf-Asian relations through the lens of strategic hedging.