Identities and Geopolitics in the Middle East Gulf Monarchies After Arab Spring

This book applies an original theoretical framework to unpack the threat perceptions and strategic calculus driving the behaviour of the Gulf monarchies, which emerged after the Arab Spring as major geopolitical players in the Middle East and North Africa region and as middle powers destined to play an oversized role in the new multipolar world. This book goes beyond headline-grabbing themes to explore the core elements in the formation of threat perceptions and strategic calculus driving the behaviour of each of the six Gulf monarchies, which emerged after the Arab Spring as major geopolitical players in the Middle East and North Africa region and as middle powers destined to play an oversized role in the new multipolar world. Ten years after the Arab Spring, and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine solidified multipolarity in the MENA region, the centre of gravity for Arab geopolitics shifted decidedly towards the monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The unprecedented assertiveness shown after 2011 by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, together with the active neutrality embraced by Kuwait and Oman, re-defined regional equilibria. Small Bahrain acted as a microcosm and political laboratory for all regional fault lines. The Gulf monarchies after the Arab Spring breaks conceptual new ground and offers an original perspective on the dimensions of security. It analyses the lessons learned in this stormy decade – between popular upheavals, civil wars, oil price crashes, economic instability and even a global pandemic – and their implications. The author draws on over ten years of research in the Gulf monarchies, bridging the gap between academia, policy work and analysis. Grounded in historical background and academic literature, the volume provides reading relevant to the past, present and future of policy-making in the Gulf monarchies – major actors in regional geopolitics as well as the new multipolar world order. The post-Arab Spring collapse of decades-old regimes inaugurated a decade of re-shaping for the geopolitical order in the Middle East and North Africa region. A multipolar disorder ensued, solidified by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Amid general bewilderment, the small monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) spent the decade between 2011 and 2022 trying to re-shape regional equilibria as protagonists. This book applies an original theoretical framework to unpack the threat perceptions and strategic calculus driving the behaviour of these new impactful regional players. Six chapters look at the six GCC monarchies individually. The author challenges commonly held narratives and goes beyond attention-grabbing headlines and thus provides reading keys to the past, present and future of policy-making in the Gulf monarchies, middle powers destined to play an oversized role in the new multipolar world.