Abdulkhaleq Abdulla is a UAE national born in 1953. He is a retired professor of Political Science and Chairman of the Arab Council for Social Science, www.theacss.org. He served as Director of Gulf Research Unit, Sharjah for ten years. He holds a PhD in Political science from Georgetown University and MA from American University in Washington D.C. Professor Abdulla was a Fulbright Scholar and a Visiting Professor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. He occasionally teaches a course for the Master in Gulf Studies Program at Qatar University. His research interests include issues of political changes in the Gulf and the Arab World. He is the author of several books including the Gulf Regional System. He has published more than 50 articles, the latest are ‘The Repercussion of the Arab Spring for the GCC States’, ‘Sociopolitical Issues of the Arab Gulf Moment’ and the ‘GCC at a crossroad’.