| The political developments of the late 1960s and 1970s left their mark on international relations in general and on the Gulf region in particular. The 1968 British decision to terminate its colonial presence along the Arab littoral of the Persian Gulf resulted in the emergence during the early 1970s of several mini-shaiklystates. The gulf area witnessed the emergence of two strong regional powers, Iran and Iraq, the rise of the revolutionary Islamic Republic of Iran, and the outbreak of a protected Iraq-Iran War. The "resource-strategic" and "security-vulnerable" zone of the Arab side of the Gulf has continued to attract increasing international interest.; This study is an analysis of the foundations and emergence in 1981 of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which consists of six traditional Arab Gulf states (the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait). It finds the GCC to be a unique case among twentieth-century integrative schemes. The study also identifies and analyzes relevant local, regional, and international forces. Among the local forces are traditional religio-political systems, economic dependence on a depletable resource, and the presence of a large number of foreign residents. On the regional level, this study takes into consideration such issues as the Arab League, Arab Nationalism, and the Islamic revolutionary movement in Iran. On the international level, the influence of the superpowers and the major industrialized nations on the emergence and future of the GCC Community are analyzed.; Throughout the past decade there has been a growing scholarly interest in the Gulf region. In preparation for this study, I have relied heavily on the literature generated by this new research, as well as on documents and official publications, mostly in Arabic. A survey was conducted among a limited number of GCC graduate students during the summer of 1983. In addition, interviews with selected members of the GCC Secretariat-General and various member-state officials were conducted during a research trip in the region in the spring of 1984.; Since the GCC is still a very young institution, the findings presented in this study cannot be considered either exhaustive or conclusive. Future studies of the GCC experiment may well prove capable of challenging the conclusions of this study. |
