Divided Gulf:The Anatomy of a Crisis

This book intends to explain the Gulf Crisis in the context of the transformation of the Gulf in the early 21st century with new alliances and power balances emerging . At the heart of this book lies the question of how the changing global and regional order has facilitated or even fuelled the 2017 Crisis, which will be perceived as the most recent climax of a long ongoing crisis in the Gulf, which had been simmering since 2011 and is rooted in historical feuds that go back to the 1800s. While contextualizing the crisis historically, the book tries to look beyond historic events to identify underlying patterns of identity security employed in state and nation building in the Gulf . It will look at how the various strategic narratives of these states have divided the relatively homogenous community of Khalijis. As the new regimes have looked inwards to prioritize domestic security concerns, collective regional integration has been neglected and with it the one institution that had been set up to manage collective security concerns: the Gulf Cooperation Council . The consequent competition over ideas, resources and global public attention has shaped the post-Arab Spring reality across the region. External actors such as the United States have been unable or unwilling to play the role of a mediator in recent years, intensifying Gulf competition by delegating more regional responsibility to the infant states on the Gulf