In 1981, the Arab Gulf states came together to form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Since then, much has happened. The GCC was hastily formed because of the acute security risk the six countries faced, as war broke out between larger neighbouring countries, Iraq and Iran.
The people of the Gulf at the time saw the move as a great success. As the agreement of the GCC, that was adopted by the leaders in May 1981, stated that the move was the first step towards greater unity. Since then, the process has been very slow and disappointing.
Little progress was visible on the ground and the steps promised on the economic, social and other fronts were poorly and reluctantly implemented. Differences of opinion between bureaucrats prevented real progress towards unity as people had initially imagined and hoped for.
But there were a number of successes as well. This was first manifested during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, wherein the GCC stood firmly against the aggression. The second instance of success of the bloc was noticed last year, when a military unit from GCC’s Peninsula Shield entered Bahrain to stabilise the internal situation there. Apart from that, the progress in other fields has been slow.
King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia declared last December that he would like to see cooperation turn into unification between the GCC members. People were expecting that their dreams would soon be fulfilled and a number of seminars were conducted to study the impact of the move on the population of the Gulf states. However, after the consultation summit in Riyadh on May 15, the project was pushed to the back-burner. This came as a shock to the vast majority of people in the Gulf.
The Gulf states are no strangers to unity, though. The first successful experiment with Arab unity was the unification of Saudi itself. Earlier, there were at least three distinct provinces that constituted present-day Saudi Arabia: Hejaz, Najd and Alehsa’a. These provinces were unified by King Abdul Aziz Al Saud between 1902 and 1932, establishing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabi. The second significant instance of success was when late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan brought together the seven emirates under one flag and created the UAE in 1971.
The Gulf countries have survived the challenges they faced. The first was the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq. The Iranians did not like the fact that the GCC sided with Iraq. So they got some of their agents to try to create chaos in the Gulf. One of the worst incidents was the failed assassination attempt on late Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the former ruler of Kuwait, on May 25, 1985, using a car bomb. He escaped with minor injuries.
Another attempt to disrupt peace occurred in Saudi Arabia when Iranian pilgrims tried to start demonstrations during the time of Haj. Some Iranian agents were accused of planting bombs during the Haj season to create problems for the Saudis. All this was met with wisdom, patience and close cooperation between the six Gulf states. During the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the Gulf states opened their doors to Kuwaitis and supported military action against the aggressor.
However, the great threat to the region came recently from the events in the Arab world, termed as the “Arab Spring”. Despite the fact that the situation in “Arab Spring countries” and the Gulf states differs — socially, politically and economically — there are some similarities.
The failure of modern education to produce a genuinely modern workforce and the absence of equal opportunity come to mind. The Gulf states today face real challenges. One way to tide over these challenges is to move towards greater unity and that is people’s wish as well.
Mohammad Alrumaihi is a professor of political sociology at Kuwait university.
