World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies

Barcelona, July 19th - 24th 2010

· NOT_DEFINED date: FRI 23, 9.00-11.00 am

· NOT_DEFINED institution: University of Exeter (United Kingdom)

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Dr. Khalid Almezaini

· NOT_DEFINED language: English

· NOT_DEFINED description: The Foreign Policies of the Gulf States: Regional Dynamics in the 21st Century
The main objective of this panel is to examine the changing foreign policy of five Gulf States (Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)) amidst the dust created by both regional and international dynamics : 9/11, political reforms, Iraq War 2003 and its instability, Shi’a revival and Gaza War 2008-9. These changes have had tremendous impact on the agenda of all the Gulf states forcing them to reshape their foreign policy. The contributors to this panel will examine: (1) the domestic and regional forces that have led these states to reshape their foreign policy; (2) examine the relationship between regime survival and foreign policy behaviour. While Iranian continues their power foreign policy in the region, other the smaller states, particularly UAE and Qatar, began to emerge as significant players in the Middle East. The Iraqi case brings new analysis of its foreign policy as a fragmented state.
The panel offers the opportunity to combine several dimensions of International Relations with particular reference to the Gulf Region. Mainstream analysis of the Gulf Region has been embedded in realism. This panel, however, will examine the above questions utilizing different theoretical approaches of International Relations: realism, constructivism and historical sociology.

Chair: Dr. Abdullah Baabood, Gulf Research Centre- Cambridge

Paper presenter: Adham Saouli, University of Edinburgh. “The Foreign Policy of Iraq: The Weight of History”
Recent political developments in the Middle East raise questions on the position of Iraq in the current regional configuration of power. In this context, this paper raises the question on how can we understand the foreign policy of the fragmented state of Iraq? Has regime-change in Iraq laid new foundations for a different foreign policy? The aim of this paper is to examine Iraqi state behaviour through a Historical Sociology approach. In this approach, state behaviour will be examined in light of the process of state formation, a process that focuses on the interrelations between domestic and regional arenas.
In the first section, this paper will theorise state behaviour in the context of the developing world, especially the Middle East. It will focus on the vulnerability of fragmented states that are situated in strategic areas. In the second section, the paper will examine Iraqi state behaviour since it formation as a state. It will argue that, historically, domestic divisions coupled with regional multi-polarity have generated a fragmented Iraqi policy. Successive Iraqi regimes faced dilemmas between regional expansion and isolation in its foreign policy. In the final section, in analysing the current scene, the paper will ask whether the increasing democratisation of the Iraqi political system will lead to a change in its foreign behaviour; or whether the rise of the Shiites to power there, amidst increasing Turkish-Syrian-Iranian cooperation, will threaten the regional balance of power generating further intervention in Iraq and, consequently, a fragmented policy.

Paper presenter: Khalid Almezaini. “The Foreign Policy of the United Arab Emirates: Identities, Interests and Multiple Foreign Policies”
Since the establishment of the UAE in 1971, the domestic and regional dynamics have had tremendous impact on the external relations of the United Arab Emirates in general and of each individual emirate in particular. On the one hand, there is one constructive foreign policy represent the whole federation as one entity; and on the other hand, there seems to be different individual foreign policy of each Emirate.
The aim of this paper is to examine the fragmentation of the UAE foreign policy and the shift in after the death of its founder Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan. The paper seeks to answer three main questions; (1) how the conflicting interests and rivalry between the Emirates led to the fragmentation of the UAE foreign policy?; (2) How does the foreign trade relations of each Emirate affects the UAE foreign policy?; (3) how the UAE foreign aid policies contradicts with its foreign policy?; and (3) What are the major changes in the UAE foreign policy in the aftermath of the death of Shaikh Zayed? The analysis of this paper will involve using both realist and constructivist school/approach. While Abu Dubai’s foreign policy seems to follow a mixture of constructivist and realists’ behaviour, Dubai in contrast adopts purely realists approach. Sharjah and Ras Al-Khaima appear to be more oriented towards certain Islamist and pan-Arabism ideologies. Other Northern Emirates, due to their limited capabilities, tend to follow Abu Dhabi. However, since 2004, the UAE federation seems to be heading towards real one union, and therefore one unified foreign policy. I assume that this change will lead to the survival of the regime and continuity of the federation.

Paper presenter: Luciano Zaccara “Iran and the Persian Gulf: the continuity of a regional power foreign policy”
This paper will summarize some ideas about the continuities in the Iranian foreign policy since the arrival of Sha Reza Pahlavi in 1941 until today, in spite of the regime change following the Islamic Revolution in 1979. I use the foreign policy toward the Persian Gulf as an example of these continuities despite the changes in the internal regimes in Iran and the changes occurred in the regional and international level during all this years.
I assume four basic ideas; (1) Since the beginning of the Mohamed Reza Pahlavi rule, but mainly after the coup against Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1953, Iran was looking to be a regional power in the Persian Gulf and Middle East region; (2) The Persian Gulf has been the main priority in the Iranian foreign policy almost since the withdrawal of Great Britain from the gulf in 1971; (3) The change from monarchic to Islamic republican regime in 1979 has not changed any of the previous statements; (4) The relatively better regional position that Iran seems to have currently in the Persian Gulf, mainly since Ahmadineyad arrived to power in 2005 is not because of his success in managing the Iranian regional foreign policy, but for the continuity of the same foreign policy behavior of regional leadership seeker since the last Sha’s period and the changes occurred in the sub-regional context.

Paper presenter: Marc Valeri, IAIS, University of Exeter, UK. “Oman’s Foreign Policy since 1970 and Internal Challenges to Stability. A Reassessment”
Traditionally on the fringe of the Arab world, Oman’s foreign policy since the 1970s is usually labelled as pragmatic, original and balanced, when it is not praised for its initiatives to preserve stability and peaceful settlements of disputes in the region. While this perception should not be rejected a priori, such a convenient shortcut must not lead to forget that Omani diplomacy under Qaboos has directly depended on the ruler and his political priorities and orientations.
Thus the purpose here is to tackle Oman’s foreign policy from the angle of the regime’s legitimacy. The current ruler was soon convinced that the internal stability of ‘Britain’s oldest friend on Arabian Peninsula’ would never give his country the possibility to question the long-lasting close partnership with the United Kingdom. In this perspective, the study of both the relationships with its regional neighbours since the 1980s and the perpetuation of strategic and economic ties with the United States and its allies in the Middle East will lead to re-evaluate Oman’s constantly-emphasised independent foreign policy.

Paper presenter: Prof. Gerd Nonneman, University of Exeter. "Between branding and omnibalancing: the case of Qatar"
Qatar’s foreign policy has been the subject of much media commentary in the region and beyond, due to its apparent maverick character. It is worth exploring longer-term patterns in policy and asking whether major shifts have occurred, what the drivers of such shifts and patterns may be, and how this relates to the broader subject of Foreign Policy Analysis. It is suggested here that Qatar’s case is a striking example of omnibalancing between challenges and resources at the domestic, regional and international levels; that an analysis of policy must, by the same token, focus on those three levels simultaneously; that both material and ideational factors at each of these levels matter and interact; and that agency clearly does matter, albeit within the parameters imposed by structures at the three levels. Indeed, the role of individuals and their perceptions remains key to understanding current Qatari foreign policy patterns, which, it is argued, are anything but irrational – indeed a case can be made that they are an example of astute analysis of the balance of resources and challenges (economic as much as military and diplomatic) at the three levels underpinning wholly pragmatic policy-making. The challenges for the policy-making elite of a very small, thinly populated state such as Qatar, in the particular regional dynamics (geopolitical, ideological, dynastic-competitive) it finds itself in, are tremendous; its economic resources exceptional; and the possibilities for effective if always precarious omnibalancing very real. The particular shape such a strategy takes is shaped in part by those structural factors – ideational and material – but crucially also by the perceptions and consequent calculations of the decision-makers about their individual, regime, and national interests, and their ‘construction’ of those structures. Qatar, in the process, has become an example of the extent to which a country’s (or an elite’s) foreign policy ‘role’ – usually seen as a long-term pattern – can change relatively swiftly.