The Changing Security Dynamics of the Persian Gulf.

• Author: Hasan, Sabbir
• Position: Book review

The Changing Security Dynamics of the Persian Gulf

Edited By Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen

London: C. Hurst & Co Publishers, 2018, 271 pages, $34.95, ISBN: 9781849048422

In 2011, the world observed a massive political uprising in the Middle East and North African (MENA) states. An invisible but constant competition between state and non-state actors was a major cause of that uprising. The Changing Security Dynamics of the Persian Gulf is a fresh assessment of the Persian Gulf countries. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen illustrates a detailed overview of different state and non-state actors who had a particular role in the uprising. Combining contributions from a number of academicians, Ulrichsen unveils an end-to-end relation between political succession and state-business relations. The writers also discuss different critical issues from a regional perspective, including a plethora of case studies. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen shapes this book into eleven chapters in which the various contributors address the domestic and regional security of the gulf states, their economic and strategic emergence, state-business relations, the effects of ISIS, the role of Saudi Arabia, and the political and social transformations of different Persian Gulf countries.

In the introduction, Ulrichsen presents a delicate overview of the Persian Gulf where he focuses on every major event that has had a great impact on that region. He notes the increase of non-state actors, the militarization of the GCC defense policy, radicalization and its parallel outcome in neighboring countries, the inseparable relation between oil prices and regional stability, the political effects of subsidies on goods and services in different Persian Gulf countries, and the centrality of the Persian Gulf to U.S. national security. He provides a parallel assessment between the balance of power, the balance of threat, and the crisis of legitimacy as well. A new term, "Geopolitical Straitjacket" is introduced in the second chapter, which indicates how the formation of ISIS relates to the rise of sectarian identity politics. On the other hand, non-state actors are also playing a role in changing the regional power dynamics in GCC countries by increasing regional and international turmoil and internal conflicts in core Arab states' Ulrichsen concludes this chapter by pointing out that the GCC regions has endlessly gone through mistrust and suspicion, which opens gaps for international actors.

During the...