A decade after the War for Kuwait and two decades after the Iran-Iraq War, the wider Gulf region remains mired in internal, regional and international conflicts. Iran, Iraq, and the Arab Gulf States presents analytical perspectives - including solution-oriented assessments to identify major causes for actual and potential conflicts throughout the Gulf. The twenty-six papers assembled in this volume identify trends for the next decade. Studies on Iranian, Iraqi, Saudi and Arab Gulf States' political agendas on the domestic, regional and international fronts are included, along with assessments on pending legal issues, including border disputes, relations among the Gulf states themselves, as well as their complex and evolving ties with several Western powers. The study closes with four 'trends' chapters looking at the 2000-2010 period.

A comprehensive examination of the nature of power in the Gulf, comparing and contrasting its origins, exercise and opposition in six Arab countries.

Iraq and Iran are the two most important states in the Gulf region, given their population size, military strength, and the potential threat they pose to other states in the region. This book enhances our understanding of the troubled relationship between Iran and Iraq, placing it in historical context, examining the rapid deterioration leading to the eight-year war that started in 1980 and the effects of that trauma, and exploring the ongoing issues that currently bedevil bilateral relations. The authors cover such central issues as how each side has sought to use opposition groups in the other state to weaken it, ethnic divisions, the role of outside states (especially the United States), and a fascinating account of how the war affected a generation of Iraqis and Iranians. The role of the U.S. in the region and how U.S. policy has affected the two states are also considered. This book provides a basis for understanding the background of a tumultuous relationship that is entering a new era.

This book outlines the state of play in maritime security in the Gulf and provides a historical perspective to current issues while also surveying different mechanisms for Gulf maritime security, both at the collective and individual state levels. The book addresses a number of questions related to maritime security in the Gulf States, such as what are the main threats facing maritime security? Do the Arab Gulf States have the necessary naval capabilities to confront these maritime security threats? What are the efforts that the Arab Gulf States have made in order to maintain their maritime security? What are the regional frameworks through which the Arab Gulf States can address maritime security threats? And what are the obstacles hindering the Arab Gulf States’ efforts to maintain maritime security? This book would be a valuable read for Gulf Cooperation Council States, the ministries of defense in the Arabian Gulf countries, security institutions, the Arabian Gulf countries’ military academies, thinks tanks and universities in the six Gulf States, Western think thanks concerned with the Arabian Gulf region, and scholars specializing in Arabian Gulf countries.

Study of problems connected with the legal status of Arab country, with particular reference to problems arising from their treaty relations and international relations - covers historical aspects of the protective role of UK in the area, accession to independence, aspects of international law, position within the framework of the UN, boundary disputes and territorial claims, foreign policy, the role of multinational enterprises of the petroleum industry, etc. Bibliography pp. 332 to 343.

The Iran-Iraq war broke out in September 1980. It brought death and suffering to hundreds of thousands of people on both sides and devastated the economies of both countries. It also increased international tensions by precipitating new alliances and rearrangement of forces in the already turbulent Middle East. The focus of this book is on the historical, economic and political dimensions of the war between Iraq and Iran. It examines many aspects of what proved to be a very complex conflict; including its long history, its present economic and political setting, the different responses to the war by outside parties and its regional and world implications.

The roots of America's image problem in the Middle East

First Published in 1982, Iraq: The Contemporary State presents insights into the political, social, and economic developments in Iraq. The author argues that Iraq, is a country which the outside world will need increasingly to understand for the stability of the wider Gulf region. Unlike most Arab oil-producing states, moreover, Iraq has substantial agricultural and hydrocarbon resources. This book covers themes like class determination and state formation in Iraq; developments in the Kurdish Issue; emancipation of Iraqi women; eradication of illiteracy; economic relations between Iraq and other Arab Gulf states; Iraqi oil policy between 1961-1976; and western, Soviet and Egyptian influences on Iraq’s development planning. This book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of international relations, West Asian studies, Middle East studies, and international politics.

With the creeping possibility of a nuclear breakout, its vigorous sponsorship of international non-state armed groups and its escalating intervention next door in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories; the Islamic Republic of Iran is a triple threat - at least - to international security and America and Western's Middle Eastern interests. Indeed, perhaps no country, according to the West, fits the definition of rogue state as well as Iran does. Making matters worse, Iran's confidence and clout in the region - and beyond - are indubitably on the rise. But that is only the beginning. Shiite Persian Iran is not content with being just an inconsequential pariah. Iran has grand ambitions. Tehran wants to be the predominant state in the Middle East, replacing the United States as the region's power broker and lording over its Sunni Arab neighbours. With the fall of its most fearsome competitors for regional pre-eminence - Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Afghanistan's Taliban - Iran is unabashedly reasserting itself on the international stage. Buoyed by high energy prices, emboldened by continuing American challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan, encouraged by consistent, unimpeded progress in its nuclear program and the increased influence of its extremist allies - Hamas and Hizbollah - Iran has its eye on becoming the regional hegemony. So the question here: How Iran plans to fight America, Israel and the West and dominate the Middle East? Gabriel G. Tabarani, who is an Expert on Middle East Affairs, will try to give the answer on this question in this book through a fair and balanced information, analysis, arguments, examination, and recommendations which will clear every point concerning the Iranian ambitions and the USA strategy to confront them.