Perceptions and Divisions in Security and Defense Structures in Arab Gulf States

Ulrichsen, Kristian Coates

doi:10.1007/978-981-13-6314-6_2

Perceptions and Divisions in Security and Defense Structures in Arab Gulf States

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen⁴

Chapter
First Online: 02 March 2019

931 Accesses
3 Citations

Part of the book series: Contemporary Gulf Studies ((CGS))

Abstract

This chapter looks at securitization in the Gulf after the Arab Spring. Seeing regimes being toppled by dissident crowds feeling economically, socially and politically disenfranchised, the Arab monarchies directed their attention towards reforming the struggling rentier state model that had long guaranteed a degree of socio-political stability. Ulrichsen shows that new dimensions of security have dominated regime considerations amid the rise of an outward looking, tech-savvy and globally connected generation of youth who although better educated than previous generations can no longer rely on the socio-economic certainties of the rentier state and expect more social and political liberalization. This chapter will set the security context within which to understand the 2017 Gulf Crisis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 109.00; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Hardcover Book: USD 139.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

1.
Notable contributions include Wendt, A. (1999). Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Buzan, B. and Waever, O. (2003). Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; and Price, R.M. (2008). Moral Limit and Possibility in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. For the Gulf specifically, see Ulrichsen, K.C. (2011). Insecure Gulf: The End of Certainty and the Transition to the Post-oil Era. London: Hurst.
2.
Kelstrup, M. (2004). Globalization and Societal Insecurity: The Securitization of Terrorism and Competing Strategies for Global Governance. In Stefano Guzzini and Dietrich Jung (eds.). Contemporary Security Analysis and Copenhagen Peace Research. London: Routledge (p. 108).
3.
Buzan, B. (2006). Will the “Global War on Terrorism” Be the New Cold War? International Affairs, 82:6 (p. 1103).
4.
Krause, K. (1998). Theorizing Security, State Formation and the ‘Third World’ in the Post-Cold War World. Review of International Studies, 24:1 (p. 135).
5.
Halliday, F. (2005). The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (p. 175).
6.
Fakhro, M. (1997). The Uprising in Bahrain: An Assessment. In Gary Sick and Lawrence Potter (eds.). The Persian Gulf at the Millennium: Essays in Politics, Economy, Security, and Religion. London: Macmillan (p. 184).
7.
Miller, R. (2016). Desert Kingdoms to Global Powers: The Rise of the Arab Gulf. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press (p. 211).
8.
Worth, R. (2013). Saudi Arabia Rejects U.N. Security Council Seat in Protest Move. New York Times, 18 October 2013. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-rejects-security-council-seat.html.
9.
Author conversations with diplomats from Australia, Canada, Sweden, and Norway, Riyadh, March 2014.
10.
Miller,Desert Kingdoms to Global Powers (p. 9).
11.
Jones, J. and Ridout, N. (2015). A History of ModernOman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (pp. 185–186).
12.
Abdulla, A. (1999). The Gulf Cooperation Council: Nature, Origin, and Process. In Michael Hudson (ed.). Middle East Dilemma: The Politics and Economics of Arab Integration. New York: Columbia University Press (pp. 154–155).
13.
Ibid., pp. 153–154.
14.
Legrenzi, M. (2011). The GCC and the International Relations of the Gulf: Diplomacy, Security and Economic Coordination in a Changing Middle East. London: I.B. Tauris (p. 35).
15.
For a good overview of mid-twentieth century territorial claims and counter-claims, see Morton, M.Q. (2013). Buraimi: The Struggle for Power, Influence and Oil in Arabia. London: I.B. Tauris.
16.
Anon. (2016). FACTBOX: Rivalry and Differences Between Saudi and UAE. Reuters, 6 April 2010. https://www.reuters.com/article/gulf-union/factbox-rivalry-and-differences-between-saudi-and-uae-idUSLDE63405T20100406.
17.
Spencer, R. (2010). Naval Battle Between UAE and Saudi Arabia Raises Fears for Gulf Security. The Daily Telegraph, 26 March 2010. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/unitedarabemirates/7521219/Naval-battle-between-UAE-and-Saudi-Arabia-raises-fears-for-Gulf-security.html.
18.
Hamdan, S. (2011). Gulf Council Reaches Out to Morocco and Jordan. New York Times, 25 May 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/world/middleeast/26iht-M26-GCC.html.
19.
Ulrichsen, K.C. (2015). The Gulf States in International Political Economy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (p. 202).
20.
Lucas, R. (2014). The Persian Gulf Monarchies and the Arab Spring. In Mehran Kamrava (ed.). Beyond the Arab Spring: The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East. Oxford: Oxford University Press (p. 316).
21.
Ibid., pp. 318–325.
22.
Lynch, M. (2013). The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East. New York: Public Affairs (p. 90).
23.
Ibid.
24.
Ulrichsen, K.C. (2014). Qatar and the Arab Spring: Policy Drivers and Regional Implications. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Paper 224 (p. 10).
25.
Ulrichsen, K.C. (2016). The Rationale and Implications of Qatar’s Intervention in Libya. In Dag Henriksen and Ann Karin Larsen (eds.). Political Rationale and International Consequences of the War in Libya. Oxford: Oxford University Press (p. 123).
26.
Rickli, J.-M. (2016). The Political Rationale and Implications of the United Arab Emirates’ Military Involvement in Libya. In Dag Henriksen and Ann Karin Larsen (eds.). Political Rationale and International Consequences of the War in Libya. Oxford: Oxford University Press (pp. 146–147).
27.
Ibid., pp. 147–148.
28.
Ulrichsen, K.C. (2016). Evolving Power Dynamics in the United Arab Emirates. Houston Chronicle, 1 March 2016. https://blog.chron.com/bakerblog/2016/03/evolving-power-dynamics-in-the-united-arab-emirates/.
29.
Author Interviews, December 2015.
30.
Freer, C. (2015). The Muslim Brotherhood in the Emirates: Anatomy of a Crackdown. Middle East Eye, 17 December 2015. http://www.middleeasteye.net/essays/muslim-brotherhood-emirates-anatomy-crackdown-1009823835.
31.
Anon. (2013). UAE Sentences 69 in Al-Islah Trial. Gulf States Newsletter, 37:950, 4 July 2013 (pp. 7–8).
32.
Anon. (2012). Islamists Plot Against Gulf, Says Dubai Police Chief. AFP, 25 March 2012. https://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/kuwait/islamists-plot-against-gulf-dubai-police-chief-1.999524.
33.
Ibid.
34.
Black, I. (2013). Emirati Nerves Rattled by Islamists’ Rise. The Guardian, 12 October 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/world/on-the-middle-east/2012/oct/12/uae-muslimbrotherhood-egypt-arabspring.
35.
Gresh, A. (2015). Dubai’s Police Chief Speaks Out. Le Monde Diplomatique, 19 May 2015. https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/dubai-s-police-chief-speaks-out.
36.
Brotherhood Sowing Subversion in Gulf States. Reuters, 3 April 2013. https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Muslim-Brotherhood-sowing-subversion-in-Gulf-states-308530.
37.
Bianco, C. and Stansfield, G. (2018). The Intra-GCC Crises: Mapping GCC Fragmentation After 2011. International Affairs, 94:3 (p. 634).
38.
Ulrichsen, K.C. (2018). The Gulf Impasse’s One-Year Anniversary and the Changing Regional Dynamics. Gulf International Forum, 30 May 2018. https://gulfif.com/the-gulf-impasse/.
39.
Malek, C. (2014). UAE Recalls Envoy from Qatar over ‘Interference’. The National, 5 March 2014. https://www.thenational.ae/uae/government/uae-recalls-envoy-from-qatar-over-interference-1.452598.
40.
Stephens, M. (2017). The Arab Cold War Redux: The Foreign Policy of the Gulf Cooperation Council States Since 2011. The Century Foundation, 28 February 2017. https://tcf.org/content/report/arab-cold-war-redux/.
41.
Ulrichsen, K.C. (2017). Qatar: The Gulf’s Problem Child. The Atlantic, 5 June 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/06/qatar-gcc-saudi-arabia-yemen-bahrain/529227/.
42.
Butler, D. and LoBianco, T. (2018). The Princes, the President, and the Fortune Seekers. Associated Press, 21 May 2018. https://www.apnews.com/a3521859cf8d4c199cb9a8567abd2b71/The-princes,-the-president-and-the-fortune-seekers.
43.
Riedel, B. (2018). Is the GCC Dead? Al-Monitor, 18 June 2018. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/06/gcc-dead-saudi-arabia-qatar-dispute-salman-mbs.html.
44.
Al-Serkal, M. (2017). Qatar Sympathizers to Face Fine, Jail. Gulf Times, 7 June 2017. https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/government/qatar-sympathisers-to-face-fine-jail-1.2039631.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

Authors

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristian Coates Ulrichsen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Defence Studies Department, King’s College London, London, UK
Andreas Krieg

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ulrichsen, K.C. (2019). Perceptions and Divisions in Security and Defense Structures in Arab Gulf States. In: Krieg, A. (eds) Divided Gulf. Contemporary Gulf Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6314-6_2

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6314-6_2
Published: 02 March 2019
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6313-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6314-6
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics