The impact of changes in the Arabian Gulf region on relations with the United States

Abstract

The recent political developments in the Arabian Gulf region will have repercussions across several political, economic, and social dimensions. The most significant of these repercussions is the decline of the totalitarian control of the ruling families in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. Such repercussions will also impact the GCC states' relations with other countries, particularly the United States, which considers the Arabian Gulf region a strategically vital region for several political and economic reasons. The presence of the world's largest oil reserves in this region is at the forefront of the reasons that prompt the United States to give it special importance. However, there are multiple internal and external threats to the world's oil supplies from this region. Iran's control over the eastern part of the Gulf and its partial control of the Strait of Hormuz represent one such threat. Furthermore, changes in this region, if not controlled by the United States, represent a threat to the latter's interests. This is where these changes in the Arabian Gulf region come into play for the relationship with the United States. This research aims to identify the security, economic and political repercussions of the changes in the Arabian Gulf on the relationship with the United States by answering the following questions: How did international and regional developments after the events of September 11, 2001, and the American war on Iraq in 2003 affect the changes in the Arab Gulf states? Why did the security and economic dimensions of these changes not threaten American interests? What are the effects of the political dimension of the changes on the future relationship of the Arab Gulf states with the United States?