The International Politics of the Persian Gulf

1. The Changing International Relations of the Persian Gulf

1 The Changing International Relations of the Persian Gulf M e h r a n K a m r ava Observers of the Persian Gulf agree that the strategically critical region is undergoing profound changes. These changes affecting the region run the gamut from rapid economic and infrastructural development to profound social and cultural changes resulting from diffusion, globalization, and the widespread introduction of American-style education.1 This book concentrates on a series of changes underway in the Persian Gulf that have not heretofore been studied, namely in the region’s international relations.2 Far from eroding the region’s strategic significance, these changes have only accentuated regional rivalries and tensions, thrown into confusion previously somewhat predictable patterns of foreign policy behavior, and brought to fore new challenges to regional security and stability. This volume examines some of the most salient underlying causes for changes in the region’s international relations and the consequences that each of these changes have entailed both in the specific areas they concern and in the broader context of international relations in the Persian Gulf, in the larger Middle East, and beyond. Perhaps one of the most striking features of the international relations of the Persian Gulf is its securitization. For a variety of reasons, ranging from the nature of political rule within each of the countries of the region to the ways in which their international interactions have evolved historically, much of the international politics of the Persian Gulf has focused on security issues of one form or another. The region has faced, and continues to face, multiple security challenges, and there have been a number of attempts, thus far not all that 2 | Mehran Kamrava successful, to forge collective security arrangements. Not surprisingly, many of the efforts and involvements of actors in the Persian Gulf, whether from within or outside of the region (the United States and the European Union), have occurred either directly because of or at least with an eye toward security issues. Threats, or at least perceptions of threats, have lurked in the shallow waters and the sandy beaches of the Persian Gulf as far back as the early days of the British Empire, and those engaged in the region’s international politics have been unable to escape the multiple concerns to which they have given rise. This is not to imply, of course, that all of the Persian Gulf’s international politics can be reduced to issues of security, but rather to argue that security issues have never been far from consideration insofar as regional politics are concerned. My goals in this introductory chapter are twofold: to outline some of the broader themes that have been consequential in the international relations of the Persian Gulf, and also to highlight some of the changes that have occurred to the emerging security system of the region over the last three decades or so. These changes have resulted in a number of challenges with which both regional actors and those from the outside have had to contend. I will begin by briefly outlining the main reasons for the continuing strategic significance of the Persian Gulf, not only because of its vast oil and gas deposits but also because of its emergence as a global hub of commerce and finance, the growing postures of Dubai and Doha as major entrepôts for the rest of the region and beyond, the apparent rise in Iranian influence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and continuing tensions between Iran on the one side and the United States and Israel on the other. Concurrently, there have been major, tectonic changes in the Persian Gulf’s prevailing security system, with imperial hegemonic tendencies—Britain before 1971 and the United States from 2001 to 2008—competing with or giving way to balance-of-power politics, containment, and anarchy and confusion. Today, the Persian Gulf security system stands at the precipice of change, the ultimate shape of which will not be determined for a good few years. All of this, of course, entails challenges, some endogenous to the region and others exogenous . I will highlight some of the more pressing security challenges the region faces, calling attention also to the very unpredictability of their intensity, direction , and ultimate fate. Finally,I will outline how the more specific discussions and conclusions of the chapters that follow bring to light some of the broader trends and dynamics I have outlined here. [3.129.45.92] Project MUSE (2024-04-16 21:35 GMT...