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Framed by a critical analysis of global capitalism, this book examines how the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are powerfully shaping the political economy of the wider Middle East. Through unprecedented and fine-grained empirical research - encompassing sectors such as agribusiness, real estate, finance, retail, telecommunications, and urban utilities - Adam Hanieh lays out the pivotal role of the Gulf in the affairs of other Arab states. This vital but little recognised feature of the Middle East's political economy is essential to understanding contemporary regional dynamics, not least of which is the emergence of significant internal tensions within the Gulf itself. Bringing fresh insights and a novel interdisciplinary approach to debates across political economy, critical geography, and Middle East studies, this book fills an important gap in how we understand the region and its place in the global order.
List of contents
Acknowledgements; 1. Framing the Gulf: space, scale, and the global; 2. Gulf financial surpluses and the international order; 3. Boundaries of state and capital: mapping the Gulf's business conglomerates; 4. From farm to shelf: Gulf agro-commodity circuits and the Middle East; 5. The Arab built environment, accumulation, and the Gulf; 6. Spaces of financialisation in the Middle East; 7. Visions of capital: the GCC and the 'new normal'; 8. Future paths and political ends; References.
About the author
Adam Hanieh is a Reader in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from York University, Canada and his research examines the political economy of the Middle East, with a particular focus on the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. His recent books include Capitalism and Class in the Gulf Arab States (2011); Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle East (2013); and (co-edited) Transit States: Labour, Migration and Citizenship in the Gulf ( 2014).
Summary
Bridging debates across political economy, critical geography, and Middle East studies, this original perspective on the Gulf monarchies and their pivotal role in the Middle East will provide essential insights to anyone interested in understanding the contemporary region.
Report
'This brilliant book by one of the most thoughtful scholars of the Gulf states is deeply researched, coruscatingly lucid, and profoundly important. It shows all the ways in which Gulf capital permeates and shapes Middle Eastern economies, in the agricultural, construction, industrial and banking sectors. It carefully traces the processes of financialisation that are so fundamental to Gulf capital accumulation and shows the political effects of Gulf capital's economic power. In so doing Hanieh casts an urgently needed light on the machinery of Middle Eastern political economy and social relations.' Laleh Khalili, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
