The Political Economy of the Persian Gulf

Some Persian Gulf states have capitalized on the quick pace of globalized fiscal transactions, transforming themselves into important markets for foreign investment. Others have fallen victim to such risky speculation. This has led the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to reevaluate the integrity of the "Dubai Model" of economic diversification, as they search for an ideal method to organize their economies and compete within the global order. While exploring the greater dimensions that globalizing forces have brought to the political economies of Persian Gulf states, this book also considers recent changes instituted during and following the global economic crisis of 2008. While mutually beneficial rentier arrangements have guided the GCC countries' formation of oil-based economies and labor relations in the past, will this necessarily be true in the future? In addition to addressing this key concern, this volume confronts future demographic changes within GCC countries; the feasibility of establishing a GCC monetary union; the effects of rentierism on state autonomy; and the successes and failures of sovereign wealth funds and Islamic banking models.