Troubled Waters: Insecurity in the Persian Gulf

Abstract

in the traumatic aftermath of 9/11, Miller records the initial attempts by Saudi officials –– as well as their counterparts in other GCC states –– to cast doubt upon suggestions that the attacks were carried out largely by Saudi citizens, with Bandar bin Sultan suggesting that “if Iran had not targeted Gulf tankers during its war with Iraq in the 1980s... . America would never have entered the region to protect Gulf shipping” (p. 105). Miller concludes that “such denial, diversionary tactics and torturous arguments pointed to the sheer magnitude of the crisis that the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden and Al-Qaeda represented for the Saudi elite” (ibid.). Other chapters in the book examine various aspects of economic diversification and development in the GCC states, and the growth of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha into aspirant global hubs in the 2000s. While Miller notes that the GCC did achieve technocratic successes in certain areas, such as harmonization of regulations, the final pages of Desert Kingdoms to Global Powers also make clear just how unexpected was the split within the GCC that tore apart the organization in the year after the book was published. Thus, Qatar’s new emir “demonstrated a willingness to heal the worsening rift” between Qatar and Saudi Arabia after he came to power in 2013 (p. 263), but Miller also makes the prophetic, in retrospect, observation that a latent concern existed among other GCC states –– that “Riyadh wants to hijack legitimate security concerns in order to extend its own influence across the region” (p. 267). This happened in 2017 to Qatar, where Miller is based, and any updated edition of this book surely will have an additional chapter on the Gulf rift and its implications for regional politics and international relations. For now, though, Desert Kingdoms to Global Powers succeeds masterfully in explaining how the Gulf states got to where they are, and provides plenty of clues as to where they may go next.