Syllabus - The Arab Gulf states in the 21 century: crises conflicts and cohabitation (58766)

Required Reading:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Faculty of Social Sciences
The Department of International Relations
58766 The Arab Gulf States in the 21st Century: Crises, Conflicts, and Cohabitation
Second semester: Tuesday 14.00-16.00
Lecturer: Dr. Shereen Hassan
Email: Shereen.hassan@mail.huji.ac.il
Office hours: Tuesday – 13.00-14.00 (notice in advance).
Course description
Understanding the political, security and economic dynamics of the Gulf Arab states in an increasingly globalized world is of outmost importance due to the region’s geo-political significance, economic opportunities and cultural diversity. This course focuses on the interactions and relations among the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (the GCC), their relations with neighbouring states and global powers at the aftermath of the Arab spring and its ensuing regional transformations. The course also examines the internal conflicts that emerged among GCC members and the potential threats to the survival of the GCC as a regional organization and the ways through which they sought to repair their ties in the face of perceived common threats.
The course introduces students to the political, economic and social order common among the Arab Gulf monarchies while also highlighting the different governance structures and political systems where thy exist. The course then explores the watershed moment marked by the eruption of the Arab uprisings and the shifts it created both in the relations among GCC countries and in the relations of these countries and regional and international players. It stresses the GCC’s rise in world diplomacy. Overall, the course may help students understand the complexities of the GCC region through the lens of International relations theories providing them with the tools to critically assess the GCC countries’ significance and role in contemporary international affairs.
Among the major themes that the course explores are:
• State formation and nation-building in the GCC region
• Regionalism in the GCC
• Rentier economy, the geopolitics of oil and the prospects of economic diversification in the Gulf
• The implications of the Arab Uprisings on GCC countries
• Political movements across the GCC amid the Arab spring
• The involvement of external powers in the Arabian Peninsula: Israel Versus Iran, relations with the United States and the rise of gulf-Sino relations.
• Public diplomacy and soft power strategies
• Women, immigrants and stateless at the age of human rights
• The rebranding of Saudi Arabia since accession of Mohammed bin Salman.
Course objectives
With the conclusion of the course, student will
• Apply major IR theories to the study of the Arab Gulf states.
• Analyse the strategies that small states use to cope with power disparities in asymmetric regional institutions.
• Identify the forces that shape Gulf regional system.
• Develop critical assessment of the broader contextual issues that influence the development of the GCC countries such as political economy, security and diplomacy.
• Understand the dynamics within the GCC in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab uprisings.

Course requirements
Attendance is mandatory (80%).
Reading all required material before each class.
Writing assignment
Active participations during classes.
Final paper.

Assessment
The final grade will be calculated as follows:
Active participation in class discussions 5%.
A short writing assignment 5%
A final paper 90%.
Course Contents and Reading
Note: The items assigned by * are required, the rest are recommended.

Syllabus

Class 1: The Arab Gulf states and state formation 07/05/2024
* Gause, Gregory F. “The Emergence of the Gulf regional system. The international relations of the Persian Gulf. Cambridge University Press, 2010: 16-44.
* Abbot, Lucy M. ”The Emergence of the Gulf States” Ed. Zahlan, Rosemarie Said. The Making of the Modern Gulf States: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Routledge, 1989: 12-23.
Davidson Christopher m. “State Formation and Economic Development. After the Sheikhs: The Coming Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies. Hurst, 2013: 17-48.

Class 2: The Gulf Cooperation Council and International Relations Theory 21/05/24
* Legrenzi, Matteo. "The Gulf Cooperation Council in Light of International Relations Theory." International Area Review 5.2 (2002): 21-37.
* Christie, John. History and Development of the Gulf Cooperation Council: A Brief Overview.” ed. John A Sandwick. The Gulf Cooperation Council: Moderation and Stability in an Interdependent World. Routledge (2019): 7-20.
Grabowski, Wojciech. "The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf: A Study of Arab Regionalism and Integration." Application of International Relations Theories in Asia and Africa (2019): 205-217.

Class 3: Strategies for survival and influence within the Gulf Cooperation Council 28/05/24
* He, Kai. "Institutional Balancing and International Relations Theory: Economic Interdependence and Balance of Power Strategies in Southeast Asia." European Journal of International Relations 14.3 (2008): 489-518.
* Rickli, Jean-Marc, and Khalid Almezaini. "Theories of Small States’ Foreign and Security Policies and the Gulf States." The Small Gulf States. Routledge (2016): 8-30.
* Hamdi, S., & Salman, M. (2020). The hedging strategy of small arab gulf states. Asian Politics & Policy, 12(2), 127-152.
Partrick, Neil. "The GCC: Gulf State Integration or Leadership. Cooperation?” The Kuwait Programme on Development, Governance and Globalisation in the Gulf States 9 (2011).

Class 4: The Gulf Spring: Political opposition in the GCC region and the quest for democracy: the cases of Bahrain and Oman 04/06/24
* Al-Khawaja, Maryam. "Crackdown: The Harsh Realities of Nonviolent Protests in the Bahraini Civil Conflict." Journal of International Affairs (2014): 189-200.
* Shehabi Al-a & marc-Owen jones. Bahrain’s Uprising: The Struggle for Democracy in the Gulf.” Eds Al-a shehabi and Marc Owen Jones Bahrain’s Uprising: Resistance and Repression in the Gulf. Zed Books, 2015.
Worrall, James. "Protest and Reform: The Arab Spring in Oman." Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring. Routledge, 2014. 518-528.

Class 5: The Gulf Arab States in the age of human rights: women, immigrants and stateless 18/06/24
* Alhajeri, Abdullah M. “The Bedoun’: Kuwaitis without an Identity." Middle Eastern Studies 51.1 (2015): 17-27.
* Donini, Antonio. "Social Suffering and Structural Violence: Nepali Workers in Qatar." The ILO@ 100. Brill Nijhoff, 2019. 178-199.
* Al-Rasheed, Madawi. "The Long Drive to Prison: The Struggle of Saudi Women Activists." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 15.2 (2019): 247-250.
Sater, James. "Citizenship and Migration in Arab Gulf Monarchies." Citizenship Studies 18.3-4 (2014): 292-302.

Class 6: The Gulf Cooperation Council: a bloc divided 25/6/24
* Ulrichsen, Kristian Coates. "Perceptions and Divisions in Security and Defence Structures in Arab Gulf States." Divided gulf. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, 2019. 19-36.
* Davidson, Christopher M. "The UAE, Qatar, and the Question of Political Islam." Divided Gulf. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, 2019. 71-90.
Bianco, Cinzia, and Gareth Stansfield. "The Intra-GCC Crises: Mapping GCC Fragmentation after 2011." International Affairs 94.3 (2018): 613-635.

Class 7: The rise of the Gulf Arab states and the use of soft-power 02/07/24
* Ulrichsen, Kristian Coates. Qatar and the Arab Spring. Oxford University Press 2014: 37-66.
* Zaabi, Fatima, and Raed Awamleh. "Determinants of Soft Power: the Case of United Arab Emirates." Future Governments. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2019.
Hertog, Steffen. "A quest for Significance: Gulf Oil Monarchies' International 'Soft Power' Strategies and Their Local urban Dimensions." (2017) 7.

Class 8: Rentier political economy in the gulf monarchies and the transition to the post-oil era 09/07/24
* Gray, Matthew. "A theory of 'late rentierism' in the Arab States of the Gulf." CIRS Occasional Papers (2011)
* Moritz, Jessie. “Rentier Political Economy in the Oil Monarchies.” Ed. Mehran Kamrava Handbook of Persian Gulf Politics. Routledge, 2020: 163-186.
Sim, Li-Chen. "Low-carbon energy in the Gulf: Upending the Rentier State?" Energy Research & Social Science 70 (2020): 101752.

Class 9: The GCC states and Iran: ambivalent relations 16/07/24
* Akbarzadeh, Shahram. "Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council sheikhdoms 1." The Small Gulf States. Routledge, 2016. 89-106.
* Bianco, Cinzia. "The GCC Monarchies: Perceptions of the Iranian Threat amid shifting Geopolitics." The International Spectator 55.2 (2020): 92-107.
Hunter, Shireen. "Iran’s Policy Toward the Persian Gulf: Dynamics of Continuity and Change." Security and Bilateral Issues between Iran and its Arab Neighbours (2017): 11-38.

Class 10: The GCC after the Abraham accords 20/07/24
* Rabi, Uzi, and Chelsi Mueller. "The Gulf Arab States and Israel since 1967: from ‘no Negotiation’ to Tacit Cooperation." British Journal of Middle eastern studies 44.4 (2017): 576-592.
* Ferziger, Jonathan H., and Gawdat Bahgat. Israel's Growing Ties with the Gulf Arab States. Atlantic Council., 2020.
Barany, Zoltan. "The Gulf Monarchies and Israel: From Aversion to Pragmatism." The Middle East Journal 74.4 (2020): 559-578.
Quamar, Md Muddassir. "Changing regional Geopolitics and the Foundations of a Rapprochement between Arab Gulf and Israel." Global Affairs 6.4-5 (2020): 593-608.
Barany, Zoltan. "The Gulf Monarchies and Israel: From Aversion to Pragmatism." The Middle East Journal 74.4 (2020): 559-578.

Class 11: The GCC states in the US-China competition 23/07/24
*Young, Karen E. "The Gulf’s eastward turn: The logic of Gulf-China economic ties." Journal of Arabian Studies 9.2 (2019): 236-252.
*Yazdani, Enayatollah. "Sino-GCC Relations in the Age of China “Go Global” Strategy." International Relations and Diplomacy 8.7 (2020): 298-320.
*Dannreuther, R. (2023). Saudi Arabia and the UAE: Bandwagoning, balancing, and hedging. In China, Russia, and the USA in the Middle East (pp. 117-130). Routledge.
Huwaidin, Mohamed Bin. "China and the Gulf region: From strangers to partners." Routledge Handbook ON China–Middle East Relations (2021): 81-92.
Israsena-Pichitkanjanakul, Vorachai. "China's Foreign Policy in the Middle East and the Position of the GCC States." China's Economic and Political Presence in the Middle East and South Asia. Routledge, 2022. 74-97.
Almujeem, Noura Saleh. "GCC countries’ geoeconomic significance to China’s geopolitical ends." Review of Economics and Political Science 6.4 (2021): 348-363.