The Arab Gulf States in Transition

This series introduces the Arab Gulf States as a new region of Area Studies by featuring both disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to studying the social, cultural, economic, and political transitions in the region. The six Arab Gulf States, namely, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman, constitute a region that has a geographical contiguousness, shared history, common culture, language, social norms and values, tradition, religion, economy and political system. It is these common economic, social, and political systems that brought these six Arab Gulf states together and inspired them even to form the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf in 1981, popularly called the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The current progress in the Arab Gulf region – magnificent architecture, rapid economic growth, fast urbanization, modern education, cutting-edge healthcare, advancement in science and technology, sophisticated transport system, forward-looking sports facilities, and women empowerment – presents a unique tapestry of unwavering development experiences that is hardly found in any other regions of the globe. New generations of leadership in the GCC states are ambitious and less conservative. As a result, new development visions and strategies, more exposure and openness to the outside world, and new regional and global alignments have prevailed under the current Gulf leadership. The efforts of the Arab Gulf leadership to position itself as a powerful region and claim a rightful place in the global order, make the region evidently different from other regions including Arab regions such as Mashreq and Maghreb of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Considering its incredible economic prosperity, visionary leadership, natural resources, rapid social transformation, and emerging significance in regional and global peace and stability, the Arab Gulf States deserve to be recognized as a distinct, promising region in the field of Area Studies. Yet, the Arab Gulf States have been studied as an integral part of Middle East Studies or MENA studies globally. This series provides a publication platform on the Arab Gulf States and their relationships with the outside world, and thus contribute to the depth and breadth of broader Area Studies scholarship. In particular, the series puts forward a critical body of academic scholarship that reflects the current social and political realities of the region, focusing on tribe, family, education, gender, migration, language and culture, health, new media, digital society, Gulf monarchies, human rights, political economy, regional security complex, energy transition, Islam and other related topics in the context of the Arab Gulf States. To this aim, the series publishes edited volumes, research monographs, and handbooks by scholars and intellectuals coming from various disciplinary and interdisciplinary backgrounds. The series explicitly gives scholars from the Arab Gulf States more voice and visibility in academic publication.