Middle East

Islamic Legal Principles and Intellectual Property Rights in the Gulf States

Nadia Naim – 2023-01

The book focuses on the relationship between Islamic law and intellectual property law and proposes groundbreaking alternatives to better support the growth of intellectual property in line with the Islamic moral economy. The author provides an overview of the development of intellectual property under Shariah principles in the Gulf States. She focuses on how the US and the EU have shaped the intellectual property regimes in the Gulf States, the WTO and WIPO in the pre-TRIPS era, and compliance with the minimum standards o...
more »

Iranian / Persianate Subalterns in the Safavid Period: Their Role and Depiction

Recovering ’Lost Voices‘

Andrew J. Newman – 2022-06

‘Subaltern studies’ refers to the importance of ‘subordinate’ groups in the making of history. The latter are usually defined as encompassing the urban and rural underclasses, the majority in any society, although generally the term is said to refer to all non-elites, including women. Most often the discourse concentrates on instances of social protest as points whereat the ‘subalterns’ make their ‘voices’ heard in response to, or even independent of, manipulations by the elite. The book draws on wide-ranging sources to b...
more »

The Arab Spring: Ten Years On

Sujata Ashwarya, Mujib Alam (eds.) – 2022-06

It has been a decade since people across the Arab world rose up in revolt against their governments in 2010/11, demanding political empowerment, social reform and economic improvement. Pro-democracy protests, as they were called in common parlance, which spread rapidly through the mobilisation of social media calls, ended up overthrowing long-standing authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya. That gave rise to hope for a more representative future, as well as economic reforms, after decades of mismanagemen...
more »

Grand Strategy in the Contemporary Middle East

The Concepts and Debates

Tore T. Petersen, Clive Jones (eds.) – 2022-01

This unique volume explores the role that Grand Strategy has played in the shaping of the Middle East and why, conceptually, its core principles still have traction in explaining the shifting alliances and dispensation of power across the region. When so much of the spatial as well as the geo-political boundaries of the Middle East are in flux, it is now time to revisit the very ideas that inform Grand Strategy that once again, are enjoying a wider intellectual renaissance in world affairs. Through a longitudinal met...
more »

The Holy Land: Travels Through Galilee to Damascus and Baalbek.

And the Green Mosque of Bursa

Pierre Loti – 2022-01

First English translation of ‘La Galilée’, an account of Pierre Loti’s travels in the Holy Land from Jerusalem to Beirut, via Damascus and many other interesting places, in 1894. Pierre Loti (1850-1923) was born Louis-Marie-Julien Viaud into a Protestant family in Rochefort in Saintonge, South-West France (now Charente Maritime). He was an officer of the French Navy and a prolific author of considerable note in 19th-/early-20th-century France, publishing many novels and numerous accounts of his travels around the world. H...
more »

The Way to Isfahan and Passing through Muscat

An Account of a Trip to Persia and Oman in 1900

Pierre Loti – 2021-05

From 17 April, 1900, to 6 June of that year, Pierre Loti travelled in a private capacity from Bushire on the Persian Gulf, northwards through Shiraz, Persepolis, Isfahan and Tehran, before returning via the Caspian Sea to Europe. It is the personal day-by-day account of his journey, the hardships of the mountainous terrain and the empty desert. Loti excels in his descriptions of the world around him: the sky, the mountains, the fertile plains, the deserted desert. His descriptions of the people he meets, their dress and mann...
more »

The Trucial Coast Political Reports 1958-1963

The Slow Progress from Pearls to Oil

David Heard (ed.) – 2021-05

The Trucial Coast Political Reports are a unique record of events, commented on by a small group of British men living in Sharjah and Dubai. This was in the years leading up to the commencement of oil exports from the desert of Abu Dhabi. These men regularly met to discuss and negotiate with the Rulers of the Trucial States - sometimes in a state of mutual incomprehension - the conditions under which the Company (Petroleum Development/ Trucial Coast or PD/TC) would operate in their various territories. Boundaries and fronti...
more »

The Late Antique World of Early Islam:

Muslims among Christians and Jews in the East Mediterranean

Robert G. Hoyland (ed.) – 2021-05

This book offers a number of innovative studies on the three main communities of the East Mediterranean lands—Muslims, Jews and Christians—in the aftermath of the seventh-century Arab conquests. It focuses principally on how the Christian majority were affected by and adapted to their loss of political power in such arenas as language use, identity construction, church building, pilgrimage, and the role of women. Attention is also paid to how the Muslim community defined itself, administered justice, and regulated relations ...
more »

The Arab Gulf’s Pivot to Asia:

From Transactional to Strategic Partnerships

N. Janardhan (ed.) – 2020-09

Over the last two decades the relations between the countries of the Gulf and Asia have expanded beyond the economic domain to include political and even security arrangements. While oil and non-oil trade are still the fulcrum of their association, ‘strategic’ partnerships are fast becoming the norm. The contributors of this book argue that, along with economic diversification, the Gulf countries have also diversified their foreign policies, especially with China, India, Japan and South Korea, among others. Together with Ru...
more »

Britain’s Departure from Aden and South Arabia:

Without Glory but Without Disaster

Noel Brehony, Clive Jones (eds.) – 2020-07

Britain’s hasty departure from Aden and South Arabia after 128 years has often been presented as a humiliation at best and a disaster at worst. London’s hopes of handing power and sovereignty over to a friendly federal regime collapsed in the face of a nationalist uprising backed that enjoyed the support of Egypt. Five decades after the final British troops left Aden, academic experts and former British officials directly involved in the events that unfolded critically reflect on British withdrawal from South Arabia, the po...
more »

Diplomacy of Quasi-Alliances in the Middle East

with a foreword by Tim Niblock

Degang Sun, Dandan Zhang – 2020-05

Quasi-alliance refers to the ideation, mechanism and behavior of policy-makers to carry out security cooperation through informal political and security arrangements. As a “gray zone” between alliance and neutrality, quasi-alliance is a hidden national security statecraft. Based on declassified archives and secondary sources, this book probes the theory and practice of quasi-alliances in the Middle East. Four cases are chosen to test the hypotheses of quasi-alliance: - the Anglo-French-Israeli quasi-alliance during the Suez...
more »

Kuwait's Politics Before Independence: The Role of the Balancing Powers

Abdulrahman Alebrahim – 2019-09

This book re-examines the historiography of constitutional development in Kuwait. It argues that existing scholarship on the subject has several shortcomings due to the lack of consideration given to the role played by some important social forces in the Kuwaiti political scene. Most historians working on Kuwait’s modern politics have focussed on two forces: the ruling family and the merchants. Although these two actors have undeniably been the most influential, other segments of society, such as the labour force, the villa...
more »

European Muslims and their Foreign Policy Interests: Identities and Loyalties

Imène Ajala – 2018-08

In a global context marked by terrorist threats, Muslim communities in the West have come under increasing scrutiny. Sensitive questions on identity arise with regard to their foreign policy interests and their loyalties. Topics covered include: - Relations between European Muslims and international issues - Political opportunity structures - Organization and institutionalization of Islam - Diaspora and transnational dimensions - The securitization of Islam - Foreign policy and loyalty This book investigates the foreign pol...
more »

Political Reforms in Qatar: From Authoritarianism to Political Grey Zone

Cihat Battaloglu – 2018-03

In the past decade, Qatar has emerged as one of the world’s most proactive mediators in the international arena. It has also experienced a number of domestic changes to its economic infrastructure, welfare system and political system, along with material improvement in its citizens’ standard of living. Nonetheless, despite such radical and rapid advances, political reform in Qatar has proved to be relatively tentative. This book examines political reforms in Qatar from an analytical, normative and ideological perspective. It...
more »

Gulfization of the Arab World

Marc Owen Jones, Ross Porter, Marc Valeri (eds.) – 2018-03

From projecting ideology and influence, to maintaining a notion of ‘Gulfness’ through the selective exclusion or inclusion of certain beliefs, cultures and people, the notion of Gulfization is increasingly pertinent as Gulf countries occupy a greater political and economic role in wider Middle East politics. This volume discusses the notion of Gulfization, and examines how thoughts, ideologies, way of life and practices are transmitted, changed, and transduced inside and outside the Gulf. From historical perspectives such as...
more »

Strategies of Knowledge Transfer for Economic Diversification in the Arab States of the Gulf

Rasmus Gjedssø Bertelsen, Neema Noori, Jean-Marc Rickli (eds.) – 2017-10

Diversification is the principal economic objective for the Gulf States. The steep and sustained fall in oil prices over the last few years has added to the collective urgency to seek new sources of revenue. As such, the overriding theme of regional economic summits in recent years has focused on the question, “how do we transition to a knowledge-based economy?” This is the central question taken up by the contributors to this volume. A growing body of literature has begun to address how state policy in conjunction with univ...
more »

Yemen and the Gulf States: The Making of a Crisis

Helen Lackner, Daniel Martin Varisco (eds.) – 2017-10

Yemen is the only state on the Arabian Peninsula that is not a member of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). It is also the only local state not ruled by a royal family. Relations between Yemen and the GCC states go back for centuries with some tribes in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman tracing genealogy back to ancient Yemen. In this timely volume six scholars analyze Yemen’s relations with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Iran with a focus on recent developments, including the ...
more »

Conflict Resolution and Creation of a Security Community in the Gulf Region

Tim Niblock, Talmiz Ahmad, Degang Sun (eds.) – 2017-10

The bitter confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran is not only stoking conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, but now threatens the stability, security and well-being of the whole Gulf region. All the major global powers have significant interests in this area, and the pursuit of these interests adds further layers of division and conflict. This book goes to the heart of this issue, examining the critical modalities whereby the "Gulf Cold War" can be brought to an end. What is needed, the contributors argue, is th...
more »

The Future of Labour Market Reform in the Gulf Region:

Towards a Multi-Disciplinary, Evidence-Based and Practical Understanding

David B. Jones, Sofiane Sahraoui (eds.) – 2017-10

As governments across the GCC strive to implement labour policies which accelerate the transition to "post oil" knowledge-based economies, this volume provides insights into the size of this challenge, along with analysis of progress to date. With a comprehensive coverage of the region (each GCC member is included in some respect), this new work provides unique insights into how the domestic policy agenda is shifting the region's moribund labour markets inexorably towards greater productivity, positivity, sustainab...
more »

Science and Technology Development in the Gulf States:

Economic Diversification through Regional Collaboration

Afreen Siddiqi, Laura Diaz Anadon (eds.) – 2017-01

The Arab states of the Gulf, currently heavily reliant on oil and gas exports, have stated their intention to promote economic diversification and have embarked on reforming existing institutions for higher education, scientific research, and technology innovation. The region has witnessed huge population growth in recent decades, and in some cases (e.g. Saudi Arabia) almost half the population is under the age of twenty-five and in need of access to quality education and meaningful employment opportunities. This book provid...
more »

Higher Education Investment in the Arab States of the Gulf:

Strategies for Excellence and Diversity

Dale F. Eickelman, Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf (eds.) – 2017-01

Over the last half-century, the GCC states have invested on a huge scale in higher education, but the stated commitment to internationally recognized excellence has also to come to terms with tradition. These pressure points are examined here in a number of comparative studies, and cover among other topics: higher education as soft power to promote regional or global influence, intense reliance on foreign instructors, citizen entitlements, badu and hadar divisions, gender separation, different visions of language of instruct...
more »

Egypt and the Gulf: A Renewed Regional Policy Alliance

Robert Mason (ed.) – 2017-01

Egypt continues to be cultural and political beacon in the Middle East. Its control of the Suez Canal, cold peace with Israel, concern about Gaza, mediation and interest in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the marginalization of the Muslim Brotherhood are all points of significance. There is a close, and expanding, defence and security relationship between Egypt and the GCC states, most evident in the inclusion of Egypt in Saudi Arabia's new Sunni counter-terrorism alliance. The authors of this book contextualise historica...
more »

Intellectual Property Rights: Development and Enforcement in the Arab States of the Gulf

David Price, Alhanoof AlDebasi (eds.) – 2017-01

This volume includes a range of topics addressing aspects of the current status of intellectual property (IP) protection regimes in the Gulf Cooperation Council and its individual member states, and aspiring GCC members Jordan and Yemen. It examines the opportunities and challenges facing the GCC in becoming a real union with common, or at least harmonized, IP laws and regulations, while still allowing flexibility for domestic imperatives and interests. IP is a crucial part of commercial and trade activity which the GCC need...
more »

Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf Region:

Fifty Years of Transformation

Frauke Heard-Bey – 2016-10

The unexpected decision of the British Government in January 1968 to withdraw its military and diplomatic protection from the Gulf catapulted the region into the limelight. For the following five decades the historian Dr. Frauke Heard-Bey was best placed to observe subsequent developments in the Gulf, having joined her husband David, a petroleum engineer, in Abu Dhabi in 1967. Through her role over decades in the Centre for Documentation and Research (now the UAE’s National Archive), Frauke Heard-Bey made use of its archives...
more »

Iran's Relations with the Arab States of the Gulf:

Common Interests over Historic Rivalry

Maaike Warnaar, Luciano Zaccara, Paul Aarts (eds.) – 2016-08

GCC-Iran relations are at the heart of important political dynamics in the Middle East today. This is not limited to the ongoing disputes in the Gulf, one of the most important strategic locations globally. Iran and the GCC states also find themselves on opposing sides.in the Syrian and to some extent the Iraqi conflicts. This volume traces the origins of the troubled relations between Iran and the majority of the GCC monarchies. It discusses not only geostrategic rivalries, but also matters of identity which have been of in...
more »

The Arab States of the Gulf and BRICS:

New Strategic Partnerships in Politics and Economics

Tim Niblock, Degang Sun, Alejandra Galindo (eds.) – 2016-08

How the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relates to BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) is, in the light of the growing strength and importance of this organisation and the countries which comprise it, of critical importance. The issue is not simply how the GCC countries handle their relations with the individual BRICS countries, but more importantly how they relate to an alternative structure of coordination and perhaps power in the global order. Their established links and alliances may no longer be enough...
more »

The Arms Trade, Military Services and the Security Market in the Gulf States: Trends and Implications

David B. Des Roches, Dania Thafer (eds.) – 2016-08

The Gulf is in the first rank of potential global flashpoints. It is the largest market for weapons imports in the world, and is considered to be a vital interest of all the great powers. Iran is viewed as an expansionist threat by the Arab states of the Gulf, who have built considerable militaries in a historically short timeframe. Security in the Gulf, however, is a complicated matter. The Arab states of the Gulf have pursued different defense policies as well as different ways of building up their forces. In some instance...
more »

Russia and the Syrian Conflict:

Moscow’s Domestic, Regional and Strategic Interests

Nikolay Kozhanov – 2016-07

This book is the first to offer a comprehensive survey of Moscow’s foreign policy interests in Syria. The author considers the Kremlin’s diplomacy on Syria within the broader system of Russian foreign policy in the Middle East; he analyses the influence of Russian domestic dimensions on Moscow’s approaches to the subject; and he considers how Moscow’s priorities in Syria have evolved during the last five years and what factors influenced this evolution. Key factors considered include: - Russian presence in the Middle East be...
more »

Wahhabism - Doctrine and Development

Set, Volumes 1-2 (Critical Surveys in Islamic Denominations)

Esther Peskes (ed.) – 2016-04

Saudi Arabian Wahhabism is the ultra-puritanical form of Sunni Islam which has been adopted by Islamist radicals, Salafists, and jihadists to legitimize and spread their extremist agenda. The scholarly articles in these two volumes throw fresh light on this messianic radicalism by tracing its origins in the 18th century up to its present role as the authoritative interpretation of Islam in the strategically vital Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. - Volume 1 focuses on the main tenets of Wahhabi doctrine that brought about the Wahhabi...
more »

Islamic Finance: Political Economy, Values and Innovation

Volume 1

Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2016-02

Islamic finance has had a transformational impact on markets well beyond the Muslim world. This development has been the outcome of various stakeholders and agencies interacting to develop a political economy based on Islamic values to generate religiously and culturally authentic financial institutions and instruments. The studies presented in this volume discuss these interactions through specific examples from the GCC countries, supported by comparative perspctives, in order to articulate the development and consequences...
more »

Islamic Finance: Risk, Stability and Growth

Volume 2

Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2016-02

In response to the recent global financial crisis, Islamic finance, as a religiously authentic proposition, has shown resilience throuh its inherited principles such as risk sharing and the avoidance of speculation. Such approaches have provided stability, which in turn has brought unprecedented growth to the sector. The studies in this volume focus on examples in the GCC countries to provide empirical analysis of the risk aspects of Islamic finance, to test its stability, identify its growth trajectories, and measure its im...
more »

Islamic Finance: Performance and Efficiency

Volume 3

Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2016-02

The growth, stability and resilience of Islamic finance is now a well established fact. However, in order to achieve sustainable growth the Islamic finance industry has to be able to maintain its competitive edge by generating higher efficiency and performance. The studies in this volume aim at providing empirical and comparative perspectives on the performance and efficiency of the Islamic finance industry through a number of econometric models, with a specific focus on the GCC countries supported by comparative cases....
more »

Oil Export Economies: New Comparative Perspectives on the Arab Gulf States.

with a foreword by Giacomo Luciani

Annika Kropf – 2016-01

Despite their commonalities, the Arab Gulf States have started economic diversification from different settings and against different political backgrounds. This book applies a multi-method approach including Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to highlight their heterogeneous economic development trajectories and to compare them to other major oil exporters. From a political economy perspective, it demonstrates how neoclassical economic theory fails to grasp the underlying mechanisms of their development. The research de...
more »

Sustainable Development Challenges in the Arab States of the Gulf

David Bryde, Yusra Mouzughi, Turki Al Rasheed (eds.) – 2015-09

This volume surveys the increasing challenges facing the Arab Gulf states in terms of sustainable consumption and production. Topics include: - Environmental sustainability: waste, recycling, water, energy, renewables, and pollution - Economic sustainability: employment, education, training and business engagement - Social sustainability: equality and diversity, pollution, congestion, community participation Includes contributions from specialists from the UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon, Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Qatar a...
more »

Employment and Career Motivation in the Arab Gulf States:

The Rentier Mentality Revisited

Annika Kropf, Mohamed Ramady (eds) (eds.) – 2015-09

The notion of “rentier mentality” has haunted the literature on the Gulf States for almost 40 years now. However, few studies have actually provided insight into how the nationals themselves perceive their career motivators, employability and productivity. The eleven studies of this book present both empirical findings and case studies that reveal what nationals expect from their workplace and what hinders them from a personal, meaningful contribution. While it seems that an initially high work motivation is often annihilate...
more »

The Changing Energy Landscape in the Gulf:

Strategic Implications

Gawdat Bahgat (ed.) – 2015-09

Extreme fluctuations in oil prices (such as the dramatic fall from mid-2014 into 2015) raise important strategic questions for both importers and exporters. In this volume, specialists from the US, the Middle East, Europe and Asia examine the rapidly evolving dynamic in the energy landscape, including renewable and nuclear power, challenges to producers including the shale revolution, and legal issues. Each chapter provides in-depth analysis and clear policy recommendations....
more »

The United States and the Gulf:

Shifting Pressures, Strategies and Alignments

Steven W. Hook, Tim Niblock (eds.) – 2015-09

The Gulf region’s relations with the outside world are changing radically. The Gulf’s major trading partners are now no longer predominantly Western. China, in particular, now has a significant stake and highly critical interests in the region. The United States still dominates the security field, yet its Gulf allies have come to doubt the strength of US commitment. Meanwhile the Arab monarchies of the Gulf are struggling to cope with multiple divisions, problems and threats: the radical forces of change unleashed by the Ara...
more »

Rebuilding Yemen:

Political, Economic and Social Challenges

Noel Brehony, Saud Al-Sarhan (eds.) – 2015-09

As Yemenis start planning the reconstruction and rebuilding of their country after recent turmoil they face huge challenges in every major sphere. This book discusses the political and economic background and analyses the most important issues: - the option of improved governance through a federal government - addressing the powerful and patronage networks of the previous regime - investing in Yemen’s human and natural resources to compensate for falling revenues from oil and gas - maintaining rural life through reduced depe...
more »

Africa and the Gulf Region:

Blurred Boundaries and Shifting Ties

Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf, Dale F. Eickelman (eds.) – 2015-09

The ties that bind Africa and the Gulf region have deep historical roots that influence both what Braudel called the longue durée and the short-term events of current policy shifts, market-based economic fluctuations, and global and local political vicissitudes. This book, a collaboration of historians, political scientists, development planners, and a biomedical engineer, explores Arabian-African relationships in their many overlapping dimensions. Thus histories constructed from the “bottom up” – records of the everyday act...
more »

Der Orient - Fiktion oder Realität? The Orient - Fiction or Reality?

A Critical Analysis of 19th Century German Travel Reports [Text in German with English Summary]

Mohammed Khalifa – 2015-06

Following the great expeditions of the 18th and 19th century, travel activity in general increased from the end of the 18th century onwards. In addition to European destinations, the Orient and above all Egypt now became the goal of this movement embracing travel and exoticism. This work centers on the question of the received patterns of thought and argumentation that were applied consciously or unconsciously by those travelers. By way of example, the reports of the Austrian scholar and scientist Joseph (Ritter von) Russegg...
more »

The Caliphate and Islamic Statehood: Formation, Fragmentation and Modern Interpretations

Set, 3 volumes

Carool Kersten (ed.) – 2015-04

Although the Caliphate was formally abolished ninety years ago, it had already ceased to exist as a unitary and effectively administered political institution many centuries earlier. The ever widening gap between political ideal and historical reality is also reflected in the varying conceptualizations and theories of the Caliphate developed by Islamic religious scholars and Muslim intellectuals past and present. However, recent events in the Islamic world show that the idea of a Caliphate still appeals to Muslims of varying...
more »

Islamic Finance - Political Economy, Performance and Risk.

Set, 3 volumes

Mehmet Asutay, Abdullah Q. Turkistani (eds.) – 2015-01

This collection of new research brings together state of the art thinking by 45 experts from academia and business on all key aspects of Islamic Finance. Individual volumes deal with the key issues of: Political Economy, Values and Innovation; Risk, Stabilty and Growth; Performance and Efficiency. - Volume 1 Political Economy, Values, and Innovation - Volume 2 Risk, Stability and Growth - Volume 3 Performance and Efficiency...
more »

The Politics of Food Security: Asian and Middle Eastern Strategies

Sara Bazoobandi (ed.) – 2014-09

The international food system is increasingly at risk. Increasing demand, limited and diminishing resources and rising volatility are putting new pressures on the agriculture sector globally. One of the growing critical threats to global stability and security is the inadequacy of food resources. This threat,exacerba-ted by global population growth, is illustrated by shifts in consumption patterns toward protein-rich diets and the growth of multinational food retail, which bring about a greater reliance on food imports. This...
more »

Security Dynamics of East Asia in the Gulf Region

Tim Niblock with Yang Guang (ed.) – 2014-09

The Gulf region’s primary economic relationships are rapidly shifting from West to East. Relations with China, Japan and South Korea are becoming increasingly strategic in nature: based on a degree of mutual dependence far greater than is present in Gulf-Western relations. The balance of global politics will be critically affected by this powerful emerging relationship. This book provides documentation of the trend and examines some of the political and strategic issues which follow from it....
more »

State-Society Relations in the Arab Gulf States

Mazhar A. Al-Zoby, Birol Baskan (eds.) – 2014-07

This book examines the strategies and dynamics through which state-society relations in the Arab Gulf region have been cultivated, and explores the alternative political, social, economic and popular changes that threaten these relations. The work focuses on understanding how state sovereignty has been shifting to accommodate internal social, cultural, and intellectual forces and how these forces have managed to balance social and political powers in order to function within and co-exist alongside the state. Case-studies giv...
more »

The Arabs and Islam in Late Antiquity:

A Critique of Approaches to Arabic Sources

Aziz Al-Azmeh – 2014-07

This work provides a critique of Arabic textual sources for the history of the Arabs in late antique times, during the centuries immediately preceding Muhammad and up to and including the Umayyad period. Aziz Al-Azmeh considers the value and relevance of a range of literary sources, including orality and literacy, ancient Arabic poetry, the corpus of Arab heroic lore (ayyam), the early narrative, and the Qur’an. The work includes a very extensive bibliography of the works cited. This is the first book in the Gerlach Press se...
more »

The Silent Revolution: The Arab Spring and the Gulf States

May Seikaly, Khawla Mattar (eds.) – 2014-04

How immune is the Gulf region to the changes that have engulfed the Arab world since 2011? This volume responds to this question by examining the impact of the Arab Spring on Gulf regimes and societies and contributing to debates on political participation and citizenship; sectarianism, gender and identity formation; as well as the role of the media in exposing the paradoxes of the Gulf system and its relationship to international political actors....
more »

Gulf Charities and Islamic Philanthropy in the "Age of Terror" and Beyond

Robert Lacey, Jonathan Benthall (eds.) – 2014-03

Gulf Charities and Islamic Philanthropy in the "Age of Terror" and Beyond is the first book to be published on the charities of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf, covering their work both domestic and international. From a diversity of viewpoints, the book addresses: The historical roots of Islamic philanthropy in religious traditions and geopolitical movements The interactions of the Gulf charities with "Western" relief and development institutions - now under pressure owing to budgetary constraints Num...
more »

A New Gulf Security Architecture:

Prospects and Challenges for an Asian Role

Ranjit Gupta, Abubaker Bagader, Talmiz Ahmad, N. Janardhan (eds.) – 2014-03

This book explores how growing economic ties between Asian countries and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) could impact their future relationship. It postulates that the stage is now set for strategic partnerships and highlights how some Asian countries have been explicit about showcasing their power and influence in the Gulf region. While exploring an alternative and broad-based security architecture, it identifies the challenges that any probable Asian cooperative approach could face as the countries of the Arabian Gulf s...
more »

Political Economy of Energy Reform:

The Clean Energy-Fossil Fuel Balance in the Gulf States

Giacomo Luciani, Rabia Ferroukhi (eds.) – 2014-03

Climate change requires coordinated global responses. All nations, including major Gulf Arab oil producers, should implement policies to contain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet all realistic scenarios point to the continuing global need for fossil fuels. The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) thus face a dilemma between continuing development and use of their fossil fuel endowments and increasing reliance on low carbon sources, such as nuclear, solar or wind. This book explores various facets of the dilemma....
more »

Asia-Gulf Economic Relations in the 21st Century. The Local to Global Transformation

Tim Niblock with Monica Malik (ed.) – 2013-04

Asia constitutes the hub of the transformation of global economic power today. The Gulf, itself part of Asia, is of increasing importance in this transformation. This book documents the growing interactions between the economies of the Gulf states and those of the rest of Asia. These relationships are critical to how the world economy develops over the next decade, and how economic (and perhaps strategic) power is distributed. This volume assembles cutting-edge thinking by 16 specialists on a wide variety of topics covering ...
more »

The GCC in the Global Economy

Richard Youngs (ed.) – 2013-03

Changing geopolitical realities have seen the Gulf region turning to Asia and Africa to build new economic links, while strengthening old ones. This proactive internationalism is visible not just in economics and energy, but also in politics and security where a host of new agreements has been developed. This work provides an overview of the ways in which the GCC states now need to move ahead with reforms that will reflect issues such as raised expectations from a period of high revenues and the region's demographics. The wo...
more »

Resources Blessed: Diversification and the Gulf Development Model

Giacomo Luciani (ed.) – 2013-03

The Gulf countries have adopted a unique combination of policies to encourage diversification with largely positive results, while there are significant distinctions between the individual cases. This work evaluates various examples to show the extent to which the Gulf economies have diversifed to date, and how results can be measured, taking into consideration factors such as composition of GDP or exports; government services; and the categorization of industrial activities downstream of resources extraction (oil refining, ...
more »

GCC Financial Markets: The World's New Money Centers

Eckart Woertz (ed.) – 2013-03

Bond markets in the GCC countries are underdeveloped, and the capital mix is heavily skewed towards banks, while ambitious development plans in fields like petrochemicals and infrastructure, as well as a rapidly growing population, create an increased need for finance. This study outlines the structure of various segments of GCC financial markets and points to regulatory challenges and future developments, ranging from capital market structures to the planned GCC Monetary Union, Islamic banking, and sovereign wealth funds. T...
more »

National Employment, Migration and Education in the GCC

Steffen Hertog (ed.) – 2013-03

This volume provides a cross-cutting analysis of the policy challenges related to GCC labor markets. It analyzes the different dimensions of segmentation of these markets, factors of change influencing labor supply such as trends in education and demography, as well as the impact of potential future reforms in areas such as immigration policy, labor sponsorship, taxation and minimum wages. The work therefore provides an overview of what arguably will be the core socio-economic challenge for the GCC in the coming years....
more »

The Gulf Region: Economic Development & Diversification.

Set, Volumes 1-4

Giacomo Luciani, Steffen Hertog, Eckart Woertz, Richard Youngs (eds.) – 2012-09

The four volumes in this major research collection address the key economic issues which affect the future development and diversification of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman. Specifically, this recent research covers Economic Diversification, Development of Global Partnerships, Labor Markets and Migration, and Financial Markets as Global Players The work brings together state-of-the-art analysis by some 40 international scholars who participat...
more »