The Gulf Cooperation Council : a study in integration

The Gulf Cooperation Council was established in May1981 by the heads of state of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. At the time,Western observers declared security to be the primeconsideration of its founders, yet security is notmentioned in the Council's foundation charter. Thisemphasizes the intention to promote "close coordination inall spheres, especially the economic and social" betweenthe member states; throughout the charter the terms"coordination", "integration", " cooperation", "closerrelations" and "ties" repeatedly recur. In consequence, asthe Council began to make its existence felt in theinternational community, its activity raised the questionas to whether this demonstrated the development ofintegration as understood in the West notwithstandingreferences in the preamble to the charter to concepts ofIslamic and Arab unity which predate Western theories ofintegration.Accordingly, this study looks at the Gulf CooperationCouncil in the light of theories of integration initiallyelaborated in the light of Western experience in order toestablish whether the Council in fact constitutes a freshattempt to promote Arab unity. It concludes that analysisof its achievements establishes the Council as a cautiousand pragmatic instrument to the achievement of Arab unitywhile at the same time reflecting favourably on Westerntheories of integration based on the concept of thesecurity community