The U.S. military maintains a significant presence across the Arabian Peninsula but it must now confront a new and emerging dynamic as most Gulf Cooperation Council countries have begun to diversify their political, economic, and security partnerships with countries other than the United States—with many turning to ascending powers such as China, Russia, and India. For Gulf Arab monarchies, the choice of security partner is made more complicated by increased domestic and regional instability stemming in part from Iraq, Syria, and a menacing Iran: factors that threaten to alter totally the Middle East security dynamic. Understanding the dynamics of base politicization in a Gulf host nation—or any other—is therefore vitally important for the U.S. today. Gulf National Security and the U.S. Military examines both Gulf Arab national security and U.S. military basing relations with Gulf Arab monarchy hosts from the Second World War to the present day. Three in-depth country cases—Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman—help explain the important questions posed by the author regarding when and why a host nation either terminated a U.S. military basing presence or granted U.S. military basing access. The analysis of the cases offers a fresh perspective on how the United States has adapted to sometimes rapidly shifting Middle East security dynamics and factors that influence a host nation's preference for eviction or renegotiation, based on its perception of internal versus external threats.

Since the 19th century the Gulf region has been an area of intense interest, having been influenced first by the British and more recently by the Americans. This book charts the changing security and political priorities of these two powers and how they have shaped the region. Adopting a narrative approach, the author provides background history on British involvement from the 19th century and a detailed analysis of the years after the Second World War, when oil supply became more critical. He covers the growth of US influence and the British withdrawal, and follows more recent changes as the US built up its military presence following Desert Storm and the invasion of Iraq. Looking at the three enduring missions fulfilled by the British - maintaining interstate order, protecting the free flow of commerce, which later included petroleum; and keeping out other Great Powers – the book demonstrates how these had by 1991 been assumed almost entirely by the American leaders. A comprehensive and thorough look at the history of the Gulf and the contemporary issues affecting the region, this will be essential reading for students of Middle East history, military history and diplomatic history. Visit the author's website at www.thepoliticsandsecurityofthegulf.com

The Gulf is in the first rank of potential global flashpoints. It is the largest market for weapons imports in the world, and is considered to be a vital interest of all the great powers. Iran is viewed as an expansionist threat by the Arab states of the Gulf, who have built considerable militaries in a historically short timeframe. Security in the Gulf, however, is a complicated matter. The Arab states of the Gulf have pursued different defense policies as well as different ways of building up their forces. In some instances, the establishment of a strong military is not just a way to ensure security, but also a way to build a national identity. In other cases, great powers (such as the United States) seek to promote cooperation between the Arab Gulf militaries as an interim step to promote political reform and integration. The essays in this volume examine a broad range of issues in Gulf security. Security is a complex and subjective matter--the various perspectives in this volume combine to form a holistic view of a challenging and evolving topic.

In 1979, after a decade of enormous increases in the price of oil, U.S. influence in the oil-rich Persian Gulf region declined sharply. Early in the year the Iranian revolution replaced the shah, the principal pro-American leader in the region, with rulers hostile to the United States and to its remaining friends around the Gulf. In December Soviet troops moved into Afghanistan, bringing the Soviets closer to the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. In the United States these events spurred the announcement of the Carter Doctrine and the creation of a new military command to handle Gulf crises. Yet the United States established no new fighting forces, and U.S. friends around the Gulf proved less willing than the shah of Iran to host a U.S. military presence. Thus debate has continued about whether and how the United States can secure important interests in the Gulf region. In this book Thomas L. McNaugher offers a military strategy that integrates U.S. forces into the security framework that already exists in the region. He suggests that the United States should encourage Jordan, Pakistan, Great Britain, and others to continue their historical involvement in Gulf security, especially in such areas as internal security where U.S. forces are no better equipped than theirs and where U.S. participation may undermine the legitimacy of local rulers. In turn, the United States should focus on protecting the oil-rich states of the Arabian peninsula from external attack and on deterring further Soviet encroachment in the region. These missions demand an increase in the agility, rather than the size, of U.S. forces. But the more important requirement, McNaugher argues, is for skillfully blending U.S. military strategy into a diplomacy that exploits, rather than needlessly upsets, regional security mechanisms.

The connection between regional instability and the preservation of global security is nowhere more sensitive than in the Gulf. Events since the 1990-1991 Gulf War continue to confirm the fragile interaction among states in the region and their susceptibility to external forces. Gulf Security in the Twenty-First Century brings together some of the foremost area experts to explore the most pressing issues, including military threats to the region, obstacles to economic development and socioeconomic harmonization, and challenges to political stability. In particular, the work examines Iran's often enigmatic foreign policy vis-à-vis its Gulf neighbors, Iraq's resurgent military threat, choices and constraints confronting US Middle East policy, and Europe's inability to identify and pursue a united policy to safeguard its economic interests in the area. These topics are further illuminated with an analysis of Russia's historical attempt at balancing foreign policy objectives in the Gulf with its enduring interests in Central Asia. The potentially explosive issues of religious radicalism and the challenges of democratic pluralism are discussed in an effort to ascertain the potential of political Islam to disturb or enhance regional security. Similarly, the problems inhibiting the settlement of territorial disputes in and around the Gulf are brought into focus to illustrate lingering historical tensions among neighboring states. To round out the book's topical coverage, several contributors shed light on the region's unfettered dependence on foreign labor, growing demographic pressures, associated social and economic transformations, and challenges to responsive public policy.