The Gulf Co-operation Council
| Author | John Duke Anthony |
| Published date | 01 June 1986 |
| Date | 01 June 1986 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070208604100206 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
JOHN
DUKE
ANTHONY
The
Gulf
Co-operation
Council
The
prevailing
view
among
many observers
of
the
Middle
East
is
that
the
states
in
the
Arab
Gulf
are
fragile
entities on
the
verge
of
popular
revolt
and
governmental
collapse.
The
com-
plaint
most
often
heard
is
that
the
governmental
structures
of
these
states
are not keeping
up
with
the
stresses
and
strains
that
have
accompanied
the dramatic, and
at
times
traumatic,
social
changes
that
ten
years
of
oil
wealth
have
wrought
upon
their
societies.
The
source
of
these
views,
of
course,
is
the
memory
of
the
revolution
that
so
swiftly
overtook
Iran
and
toppled
Pahlavi
rule.
A
closer
look
at
the
Gulf
states
and
a
review
of
their
efforts
in
establishing
the
Gulf
Co-operation
Council
(Gcc),
however,
shows
that
many
of
these fears
are
misplaced
and
that
events
in
the
Gulf are
often
misunderstood. This
article
posits
that
primarily
through
the
individual
and
collective
efforts
of
the
six
GCC
states
-
Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait,
Bahrain,
Oman,
Qatar,
and
the United
Arab Emirates
(UAE)
-
the
Gulfs
stability
and
the
West's
access
to
oil
will
be
ensured. Indeed,
these
states,
along
with
Iraq,
are
determined
to
provide
substantially
for
their
own
defence.
The
key
to
their
search
for
self-defence,
however,
is
the
West's willingness
to
provide
them
with
the
necessary
armaments
and
technical
assistance.
There
is
no
question
that
interstate
relations in
the
Middle
East
often
shudder
with
turbulence
and
instability.
In
the
Gulf,
the
five-year-long
Iran-Iraq
War
offers
horrific
testimony to
this fact.
But
apart
from
that
conflict,
the
internal
affairs
of
the
President,
National
Council
on
US-Arab Relations,
Washington,
Dc.
International
Journal
XLI
spring
1986
384
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
states
in
the
Gulf
have
proven
remarkably
stable.
In
contrast
to
the
countries
of
the
Fertile
Crescent
and
North
Africa,
the
internal
dynamics
and
decision-making
processes
in
the
Gulf
states
have
been
remarkably
flexible
and
resilient
in
the
face
of
threats and
change.
This
is
particularly
true
of
the
GCC
states.
Indeed,
a
strong
case
can
be
made
that,
both internally
and
intraregionally,
these
societies
are
among the
most
politically
stable
not
just
in
the
Middle
East
but
anywhere
in
the
devel-
oping
world.
Such
a
positive
assessment,
flying
as
it
does
in
the
face
of
conventional
wisdom,
will
undoubtedly
provoke
scepticism
and
criticism
from
certain
quarters.
The
question
might
well
be:
'stable?
by
what
standards?'
The
response
of
these
states
would
be
cast
in
terms
of
the
following
criteria:
-
by
the
infinitesimally
small
number
of
protest
movements,
demonstrations,
and
riots they
have
suffered
in
the
past
decade;
-
by
the
paucity
of
clandestine
cells
and revolutionary
presses
which
have
been uncovered
or
are
believed
to
exist;
-
by
the
relatively
low
level
of
crime
in
their
societies
and
by
the
absence
of
coups
d'6tat
during
the
past fifteen
years.
-
by
the
small
-
one
could
almost
argue
non-existent
-
degree
of
citizen
unemployment;
-
by
the
low level
of
alienation
among
the
politically
aware
-
an
alienation
that
would
be
ubiquitous
if
either
the
general
level
of
the
human
aspirations
or
societal
opportunities
of
the
citizenry could
be
characterized
as
seriously
limited
or
stifled;
-
by
the
lack
of
abrupt
regime
changes
in
the
past
two
decades.
Indeed
all
of
these
regimes
remain
dynastic
as
they have
been
for
the
past
several
centuries.
-
by
the
fact
that
in
the
few
instances
of
forced change
of
leadership,
the change
has
merely
led
to
a
perpetuation
of
the
former
system
of
rule
while
substituting
a
more
popular
leader for
a
less
popular
one.
A
look
at
the
individual
countries
of
the
GCc
bears
out
this
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