POLITICS OF THE ARABIAN PENINSULA

           The domestic politics of the Arabian Peninsula has been a major focus of my research.  My first book, Saudi-Yemeni Relations:  Domestic Structures and Foreign Influence (Columbia University Press, 1990), contains an extensive discussion of domestic politics in what were then the two Yemeni states.  (For a full citation to this or any other of my publications, see my C.V.).  My second book, Oil Monarchies:  Domestic and Security Challenges in the Arab Gulf States (Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1994), dealt with the domestic politics of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, particularly in the period after the Gulf War of 1990-91.  (To access a copy of the book, which is now out of print, on-line, click here.)

        Since the publication of that second book, I have published a number of articles on the domestic politics of the GCC states and, to a lesser extent, Yemen.  You can find an overview of Peninsula politics in the 1990's in "The Arabian Peninsula," in Robert Freedman (ed.), The Middle East and the Peace Process:  The Impact of the Oslo Accords (University Press of Florida, 1998).  For analyses of the dilemmas facing the oil monarchies as oil prices fell (in relative terms) in the 1990's, see:  "The Gulf Conundrum:  Economic Change, Population Growth and Political Stability in the GCC States," Washington Quarterly, Winter 1997; and "The Political Economy of National Security in the GCC States," in Gary Sick and Lawrence Potter (eds.), The Persian Gulf at the Millenium (St. Martin's Press, 1997).  I looked at the phenomenon of political opposition in the Gulf states in a working paper published by the European University Institute in 2000:  "Political Opposition in the Gulf Monarchies," European University Institute Working Papers, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Mediterranean Programme Series, RSC No. 2000/61.  In another recent piece, I looked at Saudi oil policy and how it relates to Saudi Arabian domestic politics and foreign policy:  "Saudi Arabia Over a Barrel," Foreign Affairs, Vo. 78, No. 3 (May/June 2000).

        I am posting one unpublished piece on domestic politics in the GCC states:

        I also authoried a more comparative piece on the persistence of monarchy in the Arabian Peninsula, in which I contrast the remaining monarchies with the monarchies that collapsed (the Imamate of Yemen and the various shaykhdoms and sultanates of South Arabia).  It was published in Joseph Kostiner (ed.), Middle East Monarchies:  The Challenge of Modernity, (Lynne Rienner, 2000).

        Since September 11, I have done two pieces on Saudi Arabia and its role in the crisis.  The first, entitled "The Kingdom in the Middle:  Saudi Arabia's Double Game," appears in James F. Hoge, Jr. and Gideon Rose (eds.), How Did This Happen?  Terrorism and the New War, (Public Affairs, 2001).  The second is "Be Careful What You Wish For:  The Future of U.S.-Saudi Relations," World Policy Journal, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Spring 2002).