The International Politics of the Gulf

The international politics of the Gulf region are defined by the interplay of the local states and outside pow-ers—primarily, in recent decades, the United States. The local states do not simply deal with each other on the basis of balance-of-power concerns, although those concerns are certainly present. With Arab nationalist, Is-lamic, and ethnic identities transcending Gulf borders, domestic security and stability concerns are as im-portant in the foreign policies of the region’s states towards each other and outside powers. The Gulf’s strate-gic role as the source of 60 per cent of the world’s known petroleum reserves has given it enduring importance in global US strategy. Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, Washington took an increasingly direct military and political role there, culminating with the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. However, the failure of the US to create a stable Iraqi regime and the still uncertain impact of the Arab uprisings highlight the local obstacles to outside power hegemony in the region, even if the would-be hegemon were the most powerful country in the world.