1st Edition

Security Dynamics in The Gulf and The Arabian Peninsula Contemporary Challenges and Opportunities

Edited By Howard M. Hensel Copyright 2023
    352 Pages 34 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    352 Pages 34 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book focuses on security dynamics in the contemporary Gulf and Arabian Peninsula. It highlights the development of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, the contemporary challenges and opportunities confronting the principal powers that are active in this important sub-region, and analyzes and evaluates their policy responses. The various perspectives of the chapters all suggest that the stability and security of the Gulf sub-region is now and will continue in the future to be of vital importance to the global community. The chapters that compose the volume are organized into three thematic sections. Part I, ‘Security Challenges and Power Configurations in the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula: The Historical Context’, comprises three chapters. Part II, consisting of seven chapters, is entitled, ‘Contemporary Security Challenges and Opportunities in the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula.’ Part III, ‘Contemporary National Interests, Objectives, and Strategies of the Major Powers in the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula’, comprises five chapters. Finally, the volume ends with a concluding chapter.

    Unfortunately, the contemporary unstable, heterogeneous Gulf sub-region is fraught with extremely serious and often urgent challenges that threaten the sub-region’s security. This volume helps to illuminate the nature of the sub-regional environment and the contemporary challenges and opportunities that confront the various powers that are active in the Gulf. It also contributes to a greater understanding of the interests, contemporary objectives, and strategies of those powers as they formulate and implement policies in response to the challenges and opportunities that they confront.

    This book will be of much interest to students of security studies, Middle Eastern politics and International Relations.

    Introduction

    Howard M. Hensel

    PART I: SECURITY CHALLENGES AND POWER CONFIGURATIONS IN THE GULF AND THE ARABIAN PENINSULA: THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

    1. The Stable, Homogeneous Gulf, 1894–1914

    Howard M. Hensel

    2. From Stable Homogeneity Toward Unstable Heterogeneity in the Gulf, 1914–1979

    Howard M. Hensel

    3. The Unstable, Heterogeneous Gulf, 1979–2021

    Howard M. Hensel

    PART II: CONTEMPORARY SECURITY CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE GULF AND THE ARABIAN PENINSULA

    4. The Interdependencies of the Energy and Defense Sectors Globally and among the Gulf Countries

    Nayanatara D. Hensel

    5. Maritime Security and the Gulf

    Geoffrey Till

    6. Islamism and Radical Islamism in the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula

    James Piscatori

    7.The Domestic Consequences of Iraq’s Durable Political System

    David Patel

    8. The War in Yemen

    Asher Orkaby

    9. The Prospect of a Nuclear Iran

    Andreas Persbo

    10. The COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic and its Impact in the Gulf

    Sterling Jensen

    PART III: THE CONTEMPORARY NATIONAL INTERESTS, OBJECTIVES, AND STRATEGIES OF THE MAJOR POWERS IN THE GULF AND THE ARABIAN PENINSULA

    11. Iran

    Amin Saikal

    12 The United States

    William L. Dowdy

    13 Great Britain and France

    Douglas Carl Peifer

    14. Russia

    Alexey Muraviev

    15. Sa‘udi Arabia

    Joseph Kéchichian

    Conclusion

    Howard M. Hensel

    Biography

    Howard M. Hensel is the Henry H. Arnold Professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies at the USAF Air War College, USA. His previous books include Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific (2018), Naval Powers in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific (2018), and Air Power in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific (2020).