Security Concerns in the Arabian Peninsula

Abstract

The Arab states of the Gulf have taken a variety of steps to enhance their security. First, they have banded together in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a sensible move that not only provides a little more bulk, manpower of financial resources for defence purposes, but also makes considerable sense economically and culturally. Led by Saudi Arabia’s predominant size and financial resources, the GCC states have embarked on ambitious military modernisation programmes. These cannot overcome obvious constraints of small size and manpower problems but nevertheless will help these countries to meet a myriad of lesser security threats. They have worked toward accommodation with more powerful and radical neighbours in the Gulf, as well as elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East. They have also sought friendship and economic and political cooperation with the United States and the West. But, mindful of the lessons of the past, they have insisted that military cooperation remain limited to an ‘over-the-horizon’ role.