ABSTRACT
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which encompasses the monarchical
systems of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), and Oman, is a relatively successful attempt at regional integration in
the Arab world. Born in 1981, at the height of the Iran-Iraq war, the GCC has
been viewed by many observers as an answer to the perennial dilemma of
maintaining stability and security in this oil-rich strategic region. Given these
small states’ vulnerabilities and inherent weaknesses, the GCC forum offered
them the politics of scale. The declared ambitions of the GCC are to create a
cohesive regional group and to effect deeper integration and closer cooperation
between its member states. Indeed, since the inception of the GCC, its member
states have moved closer to each other in several ways in the economic, social
and political spheres. A free trade area has been created and an agreement on a
customs union entered into force in January 2003. A monetary union has been
mooted for 2005, to be followed by a single currency in 2010. There is already
free movement of people, goods and capital between its member states and there
are discussions aimed at achieving a common Gulf citizenship. Along with
integration in these ‘soft’ areas there has been some limited cooperation in the
security and political ‘hard’ issues. On political cooperation, for example, the
GCC states created a platform for their foreign ministries to coordinate their
foreign policies. Close consultations and regular foreign ministers’ meetings
take place to arrive at a common position and act as a collective group in
regional and international fora. However, despite their declared attempt at
political cooperation and some signs of foreign policy coordination, the GCC
states have not exhibited much joint foreign policy making, let alone arrived at a
common foreign and security policy (CFSP).
