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The Global Middle East
Money, Markets, and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East
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.
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Published August 8, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 2, 2020
One of the most important books I have read recently...
Hanieh, in a highly persuasive manner, reconstructs the "GCC project" from a capital accumulation point of view. He also shows where the GCC lie in the bigger scale of global political economy and in relation with the global capitalism and American imperialism that looks at the GCC as one of its three pillars for global dominance (the other two are israel & few authoritarian countries such as Egypt).
He also points to the role of the GCC elite class, which includes both the royal families & business conglomerates, on regional and domestic tensions (both repression or restructuring alike) who work on accumulating capital through various means of influence. This class specifically are the linchpin for a lot of the policies and political economy forces that shaped the region within and outside the GCC. Examples of such role has been well documented throughout the book, specifically in the Industry, Built Environment, and Financial markets.
The implication of such awareness, i.e. of the role of this class of elites within the GCC and the extension of such role to the region, all with the objective of extending and deepening the accumulation of capital, is its ability to explain certain political decisions that do not make sense independent of these facts.
I assume this point of view (i.e. looking at the GCC politics from a capital accumulation point of view) is not the full picture. Yet it is one building block that does shed light on a region that has been in misery and in continuous conflict for a long time. It is then very sad, and also unfair, if the driver of such conflicts does not have other elements into it (such as religious, political & strategic in relation to monarchy preservation).
I recommend this book for any political economy researcher, and would like to note that this is not a review for the book, but rather a high level impression. The book is dense with much more.
Hanieh, in a highly persuasive manner, reconstructs the "GCC project" from a capital accumulation point of view. He also shows where the GCC lie in the bigger scale of global political economy and in relation with the global capitalism and American imperialism that looks at the GCC as one of its three pillars for global dominance (the other two are israel & few authoritarian countries such as Egypt).
He also points to the role of the GCC elite class, which includes both the royal families & business conglomerates, on regional and domestic tensions (both repression or restructuring alike) who work on accumulating capital through various means of influence. This class specifically are the linchpin for a lot of the policies and political economy forces that shaped the region within and outside the GCC. Examples of such role has been well documented throughout the book, specifically in the Industry, Built Environment, and Financial markets.
The implication of such awareness, i.e. of the role of this class of elites within the GCC and the extension of such role to the region, all with the objective of extending and deepening the accumulation of capital, is its ability to explain certain political decisions that do not make sense independent of these facts.
I assume this point of view (i.e. looking at the GCC politics from a capital accumulation point of view) is not the full picture. Yet it is one building block that does shed light on a region that has been in misery and in continuous conflict for a long time. It is then very sad, and also unfair, if the driver of such conflicts does not have other elements into it (such as religious, political & strategic in relation to monarchy preservation).
I recommend this book for any political economy researcher, and would like to note that this is not a review for the book, but rather a high level impression. The book is dense with much more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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June 4, 2021The book is a good read for those who already have a background on the matter of the Gulf region, however it is a little all over the place and quite often feels more like a wikipedia page where it simply simply lists facts instead of providing actual analysis. I found the (though not stated in these terms) idea of an emerging core-periphery realtionship between the GCC countries and other arab countreis in the wider region fascinating.
In addition, while the book claims to talk about the GCC, too much empahsis is put on discussing the specifics of Saud Arabia (and the UAE) and too little on the rest of the countries. Qudos to the author for makeing several foresieghts that proved to be correct on the long run (given that the book was published in 2018).
In addition, while the book claims to talk about the GCC, too much empahsis is put on discussing the specifics of Saud Arabia (and the UAE) and too little on the rest of the countries. Qudos to the author for makeing several foresieghts that proved to be correct on the long run (given that the book was published in 2018).
February 8, 2021
Mediocre
Neither particularly good, nor very interesting. In essence, one long diatribe against what the author calls (but doesn’t understand) ‘neoliberalism’. I would not have bought this book if that had been clear from the title.
Neither particularly good, nor very interesting. In essence, one long diatribe against what the author calls (but doesn’t understand) ‘neoliberalism’. I would not have bought this book if that had been clear from the title.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews