Contestation, Sectarianism, and Reconciliation in the Conflict of Yemen

On December 2 & 3, 2020 the Regional Program Gulf States (RPG) in collaboration with the program of Sectarianism, Proxies, and De-Sectarianism (SEPAD) at Lancaster University’s Richardson Institute, held a workshop on the conflict in Yemen.

Towards a Regional Security Mechanism in the Gulf Region

The Gulf region requires a regional security mechanism, based on both conceptual and operational baskets, through which regional as well as relevant external actors can engage with one another. Building on recent calls for de-escalation, Europe in particular should take the lead given the various tool of conflict resolution that it can bring to the table.

Women Leadership in the Gulf States

A workshop series

Following its successful training program on women political leadership and campaigning, IBTKAR, a political, strategic and public relations consultancy based in Kuwait, organized with the support of the Regional Program Gulf States, ten workshops on women leadership in the Gulf States.

"Europe is a strategic partner for us"

Saudi Minister of State Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir at KAS

Currently, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia holds the presidency of the G20 and will host the G20 summit on November 21 and 22. In the course of a visit to Berlin, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom, Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir, took part in a digital round table discussion at KAS with political decision makers and experts on Friday. In addition to the Saudi G20 Presidency, the main topics were current developments in the Gulf and the role of Europe in the region.

Migration and The COVID-19 Pandemic in the Gulf

A Study of Foreign Expatriate Worker Communities' Coping Attitudes, Practices, and Future Prospects in Dubai and Jeddah

In this study, Dr. Fahad L. Alsharif from King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, and Froilan T. Malit from the University of Cambridge examine the impact of Covid-19 on a sample of foreign expatriates in Jeddah and Dubai. The study specifically explores how Covid19 has affected foreign workers’ economic and welfare status in both Gulf cities mainly on the working and living conditions, access to medical services and dispute resolution system, remittance contribution, and current and future employment and security perceptions both in the Gulf and home country’s labour markets.

Offensive Realism and Saudi Foreign Policy towards Iran

A zero-sum game?

The Arabian Gulf has long been one of the world’s tensest regions. Since 1980, three main wars occurred, and the region has undergone a military buildup ever since. Most of those in the Arabian Gulf states see the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which changed the face of the entire region, as the predominant causal factor for its instability. Since then, tensions and hostility have only increased between the two sides of the Gulf: the Arabian side, led by Saudi Arabia, and Iran. This article is an attempt to explain an iteration of this relationship between the two sides, via an examination of Saudi foreign policy (SFP) towards Iran.

Jemen - Entwicklungen im Schatten von Corona

112.000 Tote - so lauten Schätzungen zu Opferzahlen des Krieges im Jemen, der seit sechs Jahren anhält. Das ohnehin arme und von mehreren Krisen erschütterte Land steht für die schlimmste humanitäre Katastrophe unserer Zeit. Trotz der katastrophalen humanitären Lage und dem zusätzlichen Druck durch COVID-19 stagniert die internationale Hilfe. Derweil ist es trotz zahlreicher Bemühungen bis heute nicht gelungen, die militärische Eskalation zu beenden. Den nationalen Dialog zu fördern und lokale und nationale Strukturen zu stärken bzw. aufzubauen, könnten Elemente sein, um politische Verhandlungen und eine nachhaltige Konfliktlösung zu unterstützen.

The Evolution of State Capacity in the Gulf Region

For a long period of time, the Gulf States’ revenues were external resource rents from oil exports rather than being acquired through traditional taxation. Consequently, the Gulf States skipped a traditionally pivotal step in the state formation process, namely, building a capable bureaucracy that is able to penetrate the Gulf societies. However, the drop of oil prices in 2014, coupled with the diminished dependence of the U.S. on the Gulf oil due to the development of the production of shale oil, have led the Gulf States to consider taxation, rolling back subsidies and imposing fees on the employment of migrant workers. All these measures required the creation of professional and skilled bureaucracy to carry out them; a mission the Gulf States achieved in a short period of time. Thus when the outbreak of Covid-19 occurred, the Gulf States were ready to deal with it effectively.

Religious Discussions on Coronavirus in Yemen

This policy report focuses on the religious discourses surrounding the pandemic of COVID-19 in Yemen. It aims at discerning this diversification and to point out to some discursive and theological implications that has to do with the current political conflict in Yemen, secularization processes and the polemical debates between the established traditional religious elite and the emerging young public intellectuals. Based on the author’s analysis of the data, they classify the Yemeni religious debate into two main trends: plain religious discourse and rationalized one. Within both trends, they find different voices that belong to different sects and schools of thought in Yemen. Nevertheless, the sectarian and religious orientations of the main interlocutors of this debate are not ignored.

“Hypernationalism”?

The Debate on Identity and Nationalism in the Gulf

Few regions are facing such massive changes to their economic, social, and security situations as the Gulf States. These changes are also leading to the dissolution of factors that previously formed their identity. They are now being replaced by nationalisation projects – attracting accusations that the Gulf States are pursuing an aggressive form of “hypernationalism”.