The Gulf States are the focus of great international interest – yet their fabulous evolution from pearl-fishing to oil-drilling, their individuality and variety, are screened by a thick cloud of petro-dollars. This book, first published in 1989, tells the story of their formation, their evolution from colonial dependency to statehood, and their transformation by oil. The result is an informed and balanced picture of the political, economic, religious and cultural character of the area. It is also a story of the powerful families and their sheikhs that have had to hurry these states into the modern world; of the interchanging role of political and economic dependence, the influence of the oil industry, the influx of workers from abroad, and the varying forces acting on the Gulf States.

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2017 The Emergence of the Gulf States covers the history of the Gulf from the 18th century to the late 20th century. Employing a broad perspective, the volume brings together experts in the field to consider the region's political, economic and social development. The contributions address key themes including the impact of early history, religious movements, social structures, identity and language, imperialism, 20th-century economic transformation and relations with the wider Indian Ocean and Arab world. The work as a whole provides a new interpretive approach based on new research coupled with extensive reviews of the relevant literature. It offers a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the area and sets a new standard for the future scholarship and understanding of this vital region.

The geopolitical importance of the Gulf region is a source both of great interest and great tension. David Commins here provides an in-depth narrative of the modern political history of the Gulf States, offering a comprehensive and accessible account of their recent development and strategic importance. This book sets out a detailed study of the region's history, starting from the empires and dynasties of the pre-modern era. Focusing primarily on economic, cultural, religious and social themes, it works its way forward through the pre-modern patterns of the 14th century to the Muslim empires that dominated in the 16th to early 18th centuries, and from the era of British supremacy to the formation of modern states, Arab nationalism and revolution. The motifs of geography, hierarchy and values are interwoven throughout the book as it examines important topics, including the influence of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of Arab dynasties, oil wealth and modern prosperity, and the formation of the Gulf States as we know them today. Commins goes on to examine recent American involvement in the region, taking examples of American intervention and influence from Kuwait and Iraq, to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Considering America's increasing hegemony since the 1970s, the book compares the American role in the region to that of the earlier British supremacy - crucially linking the financial burdens of American actions to the US future as regional hegemon. With the importance and impact of the Gulf States continuing to increase, and their futures the subject of much international speculation, this book is an invaluable source of information on the Gulf region's development, essential for students and researchers alike.

This final book from Rosemarie Said Zahlan, renowned scholar of Middle East Politics and History, explores the relationships between Palestine and the Gulf since the 1930s. She demonstrates how the regional Gulf politics will long continue to be impacted by the abiding non-resolution of the Palestinian problem.

The six Arab Gulf States (AGS) comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are universally recognized as a distinct group of states. These states have developed their own distinct socio-economic features, regional concerns and political priorities that are relatively independent of the rest of the Arab World. More important, these states have acquired over the last 30 years, a unique international prominence. However, despite their global significance, the AGS are either little understood or even grossly misunderstood by the outside world.The central purpose of this analysis is to provide answers to some key questions such as: Why is it important to study the AGS? How do we best approach and analyze them? What are their unique characteristics? How did they acquire such an imposing strategic value? The author discusses among other aspects, three compelling reasons and three different approaches to assess the AGS. The study examines the changing national, regional and international developments affecting these states and the rationale behind their strategic and economic importance, concluding that the conventional oil-dominated approaches to the AGS do not adequately reflect their individual complexities and current realities.

This book analyzes the recent development of Gulf capitalism through to the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. Situating the Gulf within the evolution of capitalism at a global scale, it presents a novel theoretical interpretation of this important region of the Middle East political economy.

Roger Owen has fully revised and updated his authoritative text to take into account the considerable developments in the Middle East in the 1990s.

This book, first published in 1994, provides a comprehensive treatment of a crucial set of geopolitical issues from a region where political developments are observed with great care and some trepidation by the rest of the world. Based on expert analysis by leading researchers, the book is the first English-language to deal collectively with the origins and contemporary status of land and maritime boundaries in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula. The 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was the gravest challenge yet posed to the system of small states established by Britain during its stay as a protecting power along the western Gulf littoral. Immediately, questions were raised about the origins of these tiny emirates: How had this territorial framework evolved? What was its raison d’être? How capable was this framework of withstanding serious internal and external upheaval such as that caused by the Iraqi invasion? This book reviews these and related concerns from a variety of informed perspectives: those of the boundary-maker himself, the international lawyer, the oil economist, and the political and historical geographer. The origins of the region’s framework of state territory are carefully scrutinised, as are the region’s borders and the contemporary disputes over their status. The period following the first Gulf War has witnessed an increase in the prevalence of Arabian territorial disputes. Some ae new, such as Saudi-Qatar, but most are established cyclical affairs. Although a complete explanation for these developments is premature, they have occurred as states in the region have been making clear moves to finalise the framework of Arabian state territory; only the Saudi-Yemen border remains indeterminate, albeit the subject of current negotiations. The book begins with a major scene-setting chapter by Richard Schofield. This is followed by chapters containing expert insights into the relationship between territory and indigenous notions of sovereignty, Britain’s role in drawing Arabian territorial limits (including a contribution from someone who drew up some of its boundaries), Iran-Kuwait disputes in particular, maritime boundaries, the hydrocarbon dimension, and concepts of shared political space. With many newly-drawn maps based on original research, this volume stands alone as a comprehensive reader on an issue that plays a dominant part in the regional geopolitics of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula.