The GCC announces the formation of a regional police force, based in Abu Dhabi, at its annual meeting. Following an extraordinary meeting of all six health ministers in Riyadh, the GCC issues a coronavirus statement introducing preventive measures at all borders. The first step was the formation of the UAE. During the three years between the British announcement of its impending withdrawal and the actual termination of its protectorate and military presence in the Gulf on Dec.
Ras Al Khaimah, the seventh emirate, joined a few months later. Bahrain and Qatar contemplated joining the union for a while, but in the end bowed out, despite efforts by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Britain to persuade them.
From an Arab News editorial on Nov. The search continued for a larger framework to include the rest of the Gulf states. Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait championed the renewed efforts. In November , in Muscat, a security framework that would have also included Iraq and Iran was discussed but abandoned because of fundamental differences over the concept, especially between Iran and Iraq.
Efforts continued to establish the GCC without those two countries. Saddam Hussein of Iraq tried to hinder those efforts and the Soviet Union was also opposed, but progress continued, especially after the revolution in Iran in February produced a clerical regime explicitly seeking to export its brand of revolution and undermine the security of its neighbors.
The new regime in Tehran formed armed groups in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to carry out its agenda, making it imperative to close ranks to meet the new threat. Some favored focusing on security and military integration, while others wanted the new organization to emphasize soft power and economic integration.
In October , in a meeting held in Taif, Saudi Arabia, the general framework of the GCC was agreed, but differences remained on some issues. Some favored focusing on security and military integration — even a formal military alliance — while others wanted the new organization to emphasize soft power and economic integration.
A flurry of meetings of ministers and experts took place in the early months of , in Kuwait, Riyadh and Muscat, to finalize the draft, which was adopted by the heads of state on May 25, , in Abu Dhabi, in the first formal meeting of the new organization. According to advocates of this model, the way to integration lies through gradualism and an initial focus on limited sectors. The integration model posits that even if states are very similar and strongly in favour of integration, it is not possible to achieve integration quickly since is necessarily a long drawn-out process of gradual steps that eventually lead to full integration.
Scholars generally agree that certain minimum requirements are essential in this regard. These include an absence of national cultural prejudice, the existence of friendly relations between the concerned states, and agreement on the objectives of their foreign policies.
A strong sense of shared values, particularly among the elites, seems to be crucial. Thus if economic integration is the aim, the process will be accelerated if participants share either capitalist or socialist values for example.
Similarly, political integration may be facilitated by a shared adherence to the values of liberalism and democracy. Countries need clear incentives if they are to surrender aspects of their national sovereignty in favour of maximising shared benefits. Friendly relations between participating nations in the past tend to be conducive to peaceful common action. Similarly, it is unlikely that previous mutual enmity or hatred could form a basis for peaceful interactions.
Perceived threats from external sources, especially threats of aggression or war or of adverse trade conditions and so on. The formation of the GCC is congruent with such theories.
The GCC has gradually developed functional institutions without requiring complete constitutional merger or the surrender of state sovereignty on the part of member states. The six member countries have concentrated on limited areas of cooperation that have the potential to lead to a continuous widening of the scope for integration with a view to achieving unity as set out in the GCC Charter.
Thus, it can be argued that GCC satisfies all the prerequisites of regional integration, namely social homogeneity, shared values, reciprocity of benefit and external challenges; the emergence of the GCC in was therefore entirely to be expected. Conclusion Having provided an account of the official statements, the opinions of analysts and prevailing theories regarding the origins of the GCC it may be concluded that the GCC came into being at a time in history when the Gulf region was experiencing major security challenges and military tensions.
These circumstances required that the GCC prioritise the issues of peace and security at the forefront of its concerns, even though the first official statement issued by the GCC in May did not mention security directly.
At that time, the factors mentioned included strong historical bonds, shared values and culture, and similar political systems.
Perhaps this was the perception of the founders at that time. The GCC Charter emphasised the basic goal as being the achievement of unity, but this would be achieved through gradual steps of cooperation, coordination , the creation of regional institutions, a merging of policies and procedures, and the downplaying of differences.
Following this path the GCC addressed the concept of collective security when it created the Peninsula Shield Force, which formed the nucleus of a GCC military force, and played a material and morale-boosting role in the liberation of Kuwait in However, even if external conditions ceased to play a role, the GCC would probably continue to exist and function by virtue of the shared objectives and interests of its members.
In so doing, the GCC declared that the security of the Gulf was linked to the security of the Arab nations and not isolated from this issue, as was suggested by Iran at that time. Ad-Dassuqui, Sayyid Ibrahim Cairo: Dar an-Nahdah al-Arabiya 2. Al-Abeed, Abdullah Bin Abdullah Al-Arabi, Majlis al-Fikr Cairo: Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies.
Alawi, Mustafa Al-Effendi, Nazeerah Al-Hassan, Omar Al-Muhairi, Saeed Haarib An-Najjar, Said Beirut: Centre for Arab Unity. As-Suwaidi, Jamal Said Basharah, Abdullah Richmond, VA: Lexington Books. Gulf Cooperation Council General Secretariat Twenty Years of Achievements [in Arabic]. Holsti, KJ Colorado: Westview Press. Kegley Jr, Charles W The Ministerial Council is formed of foreign ministers or other ministers, who meet every three months to propose policies and execute decisions.
The Secretariat-General is an administrative body that organises meetings and observes the enactment of policies. The Consultative Commission advises the Supreme Council and is composed of five representatives from each member state. The Commission for the Settlement of Disputes is formed to look for diplomatic solutions to problems among member states. The Secretary-General is appointed by the Supreme Council for three years. The term can be renewed only once. The current role has been filled since by Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, a retired Bahraini lieutenant general.
However, a swift depletion of oil and gas reserves, coupled with population increases in many GCC countries in the last decade, has resulted in attempts to expand beyond the energy sector into other fields, such as tourism, construction and finance. According to a report published this year by the World Bank, Bahrain is the most vulnerable GCC country due to low oil prices, limited savings and high debt levels. In , a monetary council was established to take the necessary measures for issuing a single currency, but this was dropped after the UAE pulled out and Oman stated it did not want to be part of it.
In , the GCC established a standing coalition land force, the Peninsular Shield Force , tasked to defend the six nation states.
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