October 2015 - May 2017
This project explores linkages between the flow of people and ideas in the Gulf with subsequent configurations of security, economic and political development policies in the six GCC states. Supporting the creation of new scholarly work emerging from and about the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, the project funds research grants to scholars working in the field of Gulf political economy, two intensive workshops supporting new research, and a series of publications presenting research to a wider policy audience.
Much of the academic literature and policy debates on challenges to development in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states focus on two perceived challenges. The first is the lack of economic diversification from carbon resource dependent growth. The second is the demographic imbalance between nationals and expatriate guest workers. Each component of this project seeks to address elements of these challenges, examine variation in their composition and policy treatment across Gulf cases, and derive implications for effective policy formation. The project focuses on ideational patterns, the licit and illicit movement and flow of people in terms of economic and security implications. Using diverse analytical approaches, the aim of the project is to collaborate and produce multiple, and novel, perspectives on the demographic and security politics of the GCC states.
There are three study components to the project:
Study 1: On Migrants as Human Capital in GCC State-building (Karen Young)
This research proposes an alternative understanding of the role of migrants in the process of economic development and institutionalisation in the GCC, providing insight into how immigrant populations might be strategically embraced, rather than being viewed as a looming problem. The potential for economic development and state capacity improves in those pockets where human capital thrives. The institutional settings that cultivate human capital are ones that have strategically used migrants to build and populate the institutions that amplify state capacity. Migrants, in turn, have a dynamic role in shaping the political sphere they inhabit. Thus, we might account for variation in the success of GCC states where human capital formation and economic openness have been public policy priorities.
Study 2: On Ideational Flows and Securitization of the GCC States (Robert Stewart-Ingersoll)
This component of the overall research project examines the set of challenges that confront the states and societies of the Gulf as a result of the ideational flows that accompany the sizeable presence of migrant populations, widespread access to information and communication technologies, the determination by several GCC states to develop as business hubs within the global economy, and their policy push (over the past decade) to actively cultivate ‘knowledge societies’.
Study 3: On Global Markets and the Institutionalization of Labor Protections in the Gulf (Nathan Toronto and Samuel Greene)
The final study contributes to both a gap in the literature on Gulf States and a broader theoretical question about the relationship between increased participation in global markets and the regulation of labor. It uses statistical analysis and process tracing to examine links between foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment, on the one hand, and labor patterns in the Gulf, on the other, to examine whether increased global participation tends to improve or undermine labor protection. If participation in global markets does lead to more likelihood of reform, countries in the Gulf that have aggressively pursued foreign investment, such as the UAE, would be expected to have made more advances in combating human trafficking and reforming labor legislation.
Activities
On 12 January 2016, the research team co-hosted a workshop examining labour dynamics in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. The event took place under the Chatham House Rule and hosted nine speakers who analysed economic migration along with its challenges and opportunities. Participants were drawn from academic and government institutions from across the Gulf, Europe, and the United States. Some memos presented at the workshop were published on the LSE Middle East Centre Blog.
Research Team
Dr Karen E. Young is a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre, formerly a Research Fellow, from 2014-2015. She is Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. Her research interests include Gulf Arab States' Foreign Policy, Political economy of transition and Identity and state formation.
Dr Robert Stewart-Ingersoll is Associate Professor of Strategic Security Studies at the National Defense College in the United Arab Emirates. He is also currently Associate Professor of Strategic Security Studies at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, DC.
Dr Nathan Toronto is Associate Professor of Strategy and Security Studies at the National Defense College. Dr Toronto’s research interests include Middle East security, theories of warfare, and civil-military relations.
Dr Samuel Greene is an Assistant Professor of Political Economy and Strategic Studies at the National Defense College in the United Arab Emirates. Dr Greene’s primary research interest is the study of democratic transitions and consolidation in new democracies.