ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the gulf cooperation council's (GCC) contribution to a region clearly vital to US interests. It discusses the financial, economic, legal and security institutions of the GCC member states and the complementary role Americans have played in their development. The book explains the historical precedents for Gulf cooperation and eventual union. It analyses the mutually beneficial contributions each side has made to the other's economy, outlines the history of American finance and investment in the GCC area as well as the arrival of GCC-based or GCC-owned financial institutions in the United States and in the international banking arena. The GCC, Braibanti states, is not just serving as a model for development and cooperation in the Arabian peninsula region and the Arab world generally.
