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 sought 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 focused 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 was to collaborate and produce multiple, and novel, perspectives on the demographic and security politics of the GCC states.

This project explored 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 GCC states, the project funded 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.

There were three study components to the project:

Study 1:  On Migrants as Human Capital in GCC State-building (Karen Young): This research proposed 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.

Study 2:  On Ideational Flows and Securitization of the GCC States (Robert Stewart-Ingersoll): This component of the overall research project examined 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 Labour Protections in the Gulf (Nathan Toronto and Samuel Greene): The final study contributed 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 labour. It used statistical analysis and process tracing to examine links between foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment, on the one hand, and labour patterns in the Gulf, on the other, to examine whether increased global participation tends to improve or undermine labour protection.

This project forms part of the Academic Collaboration with Arab Universities Programme, funded by the Emirates Foundation.

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

Karen E. Young | Principal Investigator

Karen was Visiting Fellow and Research Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. She is Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

Robert Stewart-Ingersoll | Co-Principal Investigator

Robert was Associate Professor of Strategic Security Studies at the National Defense College in the United Arab Emirates.

Nathan Toronto | Consultant

Nathan is Associate Professor of Strategy and Security Studies at the National Defense College. 

Samuel Greene | Consultant

Samuel is Assistant Professor of Political Economy and Strategic Studies at the National Defense College in the United Arab Emirates.