World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies

Barcelona, July 19th - 24th 2010

· NOT_DEFINED date: THU 22, 9.00-11.00 am

· NOT_DEFINED institution: London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom)

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

· NOT_DEFINED language: English

· NOT_DEFINED description: This panel will address the multidimensional challenges that Gulf states and societies face, and discuss regional programmes that have so far been developed to tackle them. Panellists will focus on the interlinked issues of security, energy policy and climate change and examihe how they are related to each other in a holistic approach to governance. The speakers will also consider implications of current and predicted future trends for domestic, regional and global governance, and adopt a pan-Gulf view that integrates the often-marginalised Iranian dimension into the regional equation.


Chair: :Dr Christopher Davidson (Durham University)
Discussant: :Dr Mohammed Raouf (Gulf Research Centre)



Paper presenter: Kristian Coates Ulrichsen (London School of Economics and Political Science) “The evolution of security as discourse in the Arab oil monarchies of the Gulf”
Will adopt a constructivist approach to security that emphasises the importance of agency in creating and sustaining security policies in the six member-states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. He will begin by examining how these regimes distinguish between the ''internal'' and ''external'' dimensions of the security agenda and also how these relate to each other. His paper will then explore a range of evolving and longer-term challenges to local and regional security. These include the challenge of ensuring resource security to meet rapidly-rising demands from growing populations; uneven rates of natural resource depletion and the moves toward post-redistributive political economies; and progressive state failure in Yemen. By situtating these issues within a broader socio-political and economic framework, the paper will make the case for a broad-based approach to security that integrates it into the discourse on governance and the reformulation of state-society relations in the states of the Arabian Peninsula.

Paper presenter: Dennis Kumetat (London School of Economics and Political Science) “The multiple dimensions of (renewable) energy policy: the example of the Gulf States”
Will examine the wide variety of aspects of energy policy in the Gulf States by focusing in particular on Abu Dhabi's Masdar Initiative in the context of the UAE power sector. He will emphasise that national energy policy is characterised by the multiple dimensions in which it operates and by the large variety of demands that it has to satisfy. He then identifies six dimensions that guide energy policy formulation in the Gulf States. These are the straightforward requirement that the power sector must be able to supply the domestic power demand; that many states will attempt to upgrade their national engineering and industry profile through innovations in power generation which can create new job opportunities for the domestic workforce and thus play a role in national diversification strategies; that the promotion of renewable energy in particular can assist in leading states into a low-carbon future and meet its emissions targets; that in the case of oil-wealthy states if a larger share of domestic power demand can be met by renewables, the country will absorb less of its valuable fossil resources and thus create extra revenue through oil exports to the world market; that if, as the DESERTEC project suggests for North Africa, renewables are developed there on a large-scale, there is further potential for income generation through power export to neighbouring countries; and finally, that an advanced low-carbon energy system can be beneficial in raising a country's profile in terms of international image policy, an asset that most countries regard as desirable. Mr Kumetat will end by discussing how far renewable or nuclear energy carriers - as an addition to conventional fossil-based power plants - match the various demands best. He will end his paper with a discussion of the optimal policy instruments that oil and gas-wealthy Arab states can introduce to trigger low-carbon innovation in the power sector.

Paper presenter: Nikolaus Supersberger (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy) “A sustainable growth path for Iran: macro-economic benefits of renewable energies and energy efficiency”
Shifts focus to examine how Iran could enter a sustainable development path by tapping low-cost energy efficiency potentials. He will argue that if Iran continues to follow its current development path characterised by rapidly-rising demand and increasing supply shortages caused by the inefficient use of energy owing to high subsidy levels, the country will lose its status as a crude oil exporter within the coming thirty years, experience rising external costs of fossil fuel consumption due, for example, to health problems resulting from heavy air pollution in large cities, and lose opportunities in a climate-change regime by neglecting alternatives to fossil fuels. By contrast, emphasising the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energies can provide very substantial economic benefits at state, industry and consumer levels, as Supersberger has demonstrated in in-depth energy system analyses of other developing countries. In addition, the introduction of renewable energies could form another part of a sustainable growth plan. By using these two strategic options, Supersberger will argue that Iran would be able to guarantee a reliable, secure and affordable energy mix and initiate domestic renewables-and-efficiency industries as engines of job-creation in the medium- and longer-term.

Paper presenter: Mari Luomi (Finnish Institute of International Affairs and Durham University) “Climate change threats and opportunities: towards a more balanced approach in the Gulf monarchies?”
Will analyse GCC states'' reactions to climate change from the perspective of an adaptation of neorealism, which recognises the importance of decision-makers'' perceptions and decision-making structures in determining foreign policy outcomes. Her paper will argue that climate change is a challenge multiplier that produces new sources of threats and instability to these states. Furthermore, it also accelerates the global shift to a low-carbon economy, and thus pushes the Gulf rentier states to hasten domestic economic diversification toward either alternative sources of rent or new political-economic models. By presenting case examples from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Ms Luomi will examine Gulf monarchies'' attitudes toward climate change through two dichotomies: threats-opportunities and international-domestic, and argue that related inconsistencies will eventually result in clashes that will have negative impacts on the states'' sustainable development-related diversification strategies. To illustrate the point, the paper will include an examination of Abu Dhabi''s position as the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency. The paper will conclude with an assessment of the potential for a more balanced approach in these polities toward the threats and opportunities of climate change both domestically and foreign-policy wise. Finally, Dr Mohammed Raouf will act as discussant and provide a view from the Gulf before opening the panel to questions from the audience.