An assessment of Gulf States' perceptions of US hegemony and security in the Persian/Arabian Gulf

• Main Author: Ahmadi, Y. A.
• Published: Nottingham Trent University 2014
• Subjects: 300
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.664730

This thesis assesses the Gulf states’ perceptions towards US hegemony security in the Persian/Arabian Gulf. A number of questions are asked regarding security and stability in the Gulf, the tools, means and objectives of the USA in the region, regional powers and their role in achieving stability in the Gulf. Special references is given to the perspectives of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Iraq and Iran regarding regional security, stability, the role of US hegemony, and their roles in building a new security system in the region. Moreover questions addressed include the occupation of Iraq by the USA and how it has impacted the Gulf region and the capabilities of the Gulf states to build a regional security system independent of US protection. The aim of this study is to provide a conceptual foundation for a discussion about the future shape of security and stability arrangements in the Gulf. Secondly, this research aims to analyse the role of the USA in the regional security complex, its key interests in the region, and its means to achieving its objectives there. Finally, this thesis examines the perceptions of the GCC states, Iraq and Iran toward the role of the USA and its hegemony in the Gulf. Furthermore, this research project also aims to study the failure of the region's states to develop a regional security regime and their perceptions of this failure. The Persian/Arabian Gulf is a strategic economic, political and military region that has increased its vital significance to neighbouring regions and the world as a whole in the past two decades or more. In particular its important position as a source of gas and oil for the global energy market has caused this region to be of interest to state and non-state actors around the world, and arguably has made the region more unstable. The hypothesis tested in this work is, that consider the importance of the Gulf states perception of the security and stability and the US hegemony and its role, as the only possible way to stabilize the region. as well as considering the Gulf states perception of protect themselves and build their own regional security system. That the USA has succeeded to a great extent in controlling and exercising hegemony over the Persian/Arabian Gulf region in a way compatible with its interests and objectives, which are: primarily, guaranteeing the flow of oil and gas, protecting current regimes in the GCC and guaranteeing the security and supremacy of Israel. The originality of this thesis in part lies in focus on the Gulf states’ perceptions of US hegemony in the Gulf and its impact on security there., By employing a constructivist approach and combining it with a theory of Hegemonic Stability, an alternative understanding of the capabilities of the USA as hegemonic state in the Gulf is developed to examine its ability to control and gain support from states in the Gulf.