Abstract
One of the central issues in the Middle East is the security order in the Persian Gulf. Over the last decades, a number of critically important events such as Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988), the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1991 unfolding into a war, and the invasion of Iraq by the USA in 2003 have challenged the security policies and the engagement of the Western actors such as Britain and the USA with the countries in this international waterway. This chapter examines four ideal types of security orders and their relevance to the contemporary political and security dynamics in the Persian Gulf: the concert of powers of the Persian Gulf, the hegemonic stability order, the collective security order, and, finally, the balance of power. The contribution argues that the latter is the order that more precisely captures the contemporary evolution of the Persian Gulf and its most immediate evolution in the future.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abdi, K. (2008). 7. The Name Game. The Persian Gulf, archaeologists, and the politics of Arab-Iranian relations. In P. Kohl, M. Kozelsky, & N. Ben-Yehuda (Eds.), Selective remembrances: Archaeology in the construction, commemoration, and consecration of national pasts (pp. 206–244). University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226450643-008
Abedpour, S. (2019, December 30). Goals of Iran, China and Russia. Etemad newspaper, (In Persian). https://www.etemadnewspaper.ir/fa/Main/Detail/13991932
Abtahi, E., & Karami, K. (2018, December 20). Bipolar order or concert order. Donya-y-e Eqtesad Newspaper. https://donya-e-eqtesad.com
Adib-Moghaddam, A. (2013). On the Arab revolts and the Iranian revolution: Power and resistance today. A & C Black.
Aluwaisheg, A. (2021, January 4). Expanding the China-GCC strategic partnership. Al-Arabiya News. https://english.alarabiya.net/in-translation/2021/01/04/Expanding-the-China-GCC-strategic-partnership
Andersen, L. E. & Yang, J. (2014). Is China challenging the U.S. in the Persian Gulf? Oil, Security and Politics, Danish Institute for International Studies, https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/120400
Arafat, A. A. D. (2020). Regional and international powers in the gulf security. Springer International Publishing.
Bahgat, G., Ehteshami, A., & Quilliam, N. (2017). Security and bilateral issues between Iran and its Arab neighbours. In Security and bilateral issues between Iran and its Arab neighbours (pp. 1–10). Palgrave Macmillan.
Barrington, L. (2021, June 30). Israel seeks to extend new Gulf ties to all Middle East. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-seeks-extend-new-gulf-ties-all-middle-east-says-lapid-2021-06-30/
Barzegar, K. (2010). Balance of power in the Persian Gulf: An Iranian view. Middle East Policy, 17(3), 74–87.
Bhalla, A. (2021, April 7). India, Saudi Arabia carry out naval exercise in Persian Gulf. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from India Today website: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/india-saudi-arabia-carry-out-naval-exercise-in-persian-gulf-1788290-2021-04-07
Chaziza, M. (2020, August 18). Saudi Arabia’s Nuclear Program and China. https://www.mei.edu/publications/saudi-arabias-nuclear-program-and-china
Chitsazian, M. (2020). The Role of Great Powers in Iran-Saudi Rivalry. Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs, 11(1).
Christin, M. (2003). Iran’s Persian Gulf policy: From Khomeini to Khatami. Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.
Craft, K. (2020). Remarks at a UN security council high-level debate on a comprehensive review of the situation in the Persian Gulf Region. Available at: https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-un-security-council-high-level-debate-on-the-maintenance-of-international-peace-and-security-comprehensive-review-of-the-situation-in-th/
De Luca, S. M. (1991). The Gulf crisis and collective security under the United Nations Charter. Pace YB Int'l L., 3, 267.
Depretto, J. (2019, November 24). Turkey in the Gulf: Between regional aspirations and setbacks. https://lobelog.com/turkey-in-the-gulf-between-regional-aspirations-and-setbacks/
Devanny, J., & Berry, P. (2021). “Gulf Security is Our Security”: Global Britain and UK Gulf Strategy, 2010-20. Defence Studies, 21(2), 141–161.
Emami, M. (2010). External influencing factors in the Persian Gulf. Institute for Political and International Studies.
Eslami, M. (2021). Iran’s ballistic missile program and its foreign and security policy towards the US under the Trump Administration. Revista española de ciencia política, 55, 37–62.
Eslami, M., & Komie, J. (2023). China–Iran’s 25-years deal: The implication for the belt and road initiative and Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In Duarte et al. (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of globalization with Chinese characteristics. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6700-9_34
Eslami, M., & Papageorgiou, M. (2020). Iran’s relations with Russia and India: Under the American Sanctions. QykRead by IndraStra.
Eslami, M., & Vieira, A. V. G. (2020). Iran’s strategic culture: the ‘revolutionary and ‘moderation narratives on the ballistic missile programme. Third World Quarterly, 42(2), 312–328.
Eslami, M., & Vieira, A. V. G. (2022). Shi’a principles and Iran’s strategic culture towards ballistic missile deployment. International Affairs, 98(2), 675–688.
Eslami, M., Mousavi, N., & Can, M. (2023). Sino-Iranian cooperation in artificial intelligence: A potential countering against the US Hegemony. In Duarte et al. (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of globalization with Chinese characteristics. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6700-9_32
Feng, C. (2015). Embaracing Interdependence: The dynamics China and the Middle East, www.Brookings.edu
Firoozabadi, D. (2021, January 9). Sunset of American hegemony in West Asia. https://farsi.khamenei.ir/others-note?id=47280
Gause, F. G., III. (2019). Should we stay or should we go? The US and the Middle East. Survival, 61(5), 7–24.
Gilpin, R. (1975). US power and the multinational cooperation. Basic Books.
Hashemi, F. (2011). Sustainable security in the Persian Gulf: Impediments and solutions. Geopolitical Quarterly, Number.1.
Hubel, H., Kaim, M., & Lembcke, O. (2001). The US in regional orders: “Pax Americana” as an analytical concept. Amerikastudien/American Studies, 593–608.
Ikenberry, G. J. (Ed.). (2002). America unrivaled: the future of the balance of power. Cornell University Press.
Issaev, L., & Kozhanov, N. (2021). Diversifying relationships: Russian policy toward GCC. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-021-00286-4
Keynoush, B. (2016). Saudi Arabia and Iran: Friends Or Foes? Palgrave Macmillan.
Kostiner, J. (2011). GCC perceptions of collective security in the post-Saddam Era. International Politics of the Persian Gulf, 94–119.
Kupchan, C. A., & Kupchan, C. A. (1995). The promise of collective security. International Security, 20(1), 52–61. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/447388
Lilli, E. (2018). Debating US military strategy in the Persian Gulf: What is the way forward? Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, 61.
Lubold, G., Youssef, N. A., & Gordon, M. R. (2021). US military to withdraw hundreds of troops, aircraft, antimissile batteries from Middle East. The Wall Street Journal, 18.
Mazaheri, M. (2019). Iran’s role and place in the security system of the Persian Gulf. Islamic World Political Research Quarterly.
Mearsheimer, J. J. (1994). The false promise of international institutions. In International Organization (pp. 237–282). Routledge.
Moghadam, A. (2017, March 16). Analyzing the security order of the Persian Gulf: From the past to the present. https://www.cmess.ir/Page/View/2017-03-16/175
Morgenthau, H. J. (1973). Politics among Nations: The struggle for power and peace. Knopf.
Narbone, L., & Divsallar, A. (2021). Stepping away from the abyss: A gradual approach towards a new security system in the Persian Gulf. European University Institute.
Nasr, V. R. (2021, April 16). The clock is ticking for Biden on Iran. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/opinion/biden-iran-talks
Ng, T. (2017, June 19). China and Iran just held a naval exercise amid simmering tensions in the Persian Gulf. Business Insider. Retrieved from China and Iran just held a naval exercise amid simmering tensions in the Persian Gulf
Orakhelashvili, A. (2011). Collective security. Oxford University Press.
Ostovar, A. (2018). Iran, its clients, and the future of the Middle East: the limits of religion. International Affairs, 94(6), 1237–1255.
Persian Gulf security entails inclusion of all. (2020, October 24). Tehran Times. https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/453842/Persian-Gulf-security-entails-inclusion-of-all
Pradhan, D. (2020, December 7). View: How India-Gulf ties are undergoing a fundamental reset. India Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/view-how-india-gulf-ties-are-undergoing-a-fundamental-reset/articleshow/79602
Rodkiewich, W. (2021, March 23). Russia activates its policy in the Persian Gulf region. Center for Eastern Studies. https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2021-03-23/russia-activates-its-policy-persian-gulf-region
Rovner, J., & Talmadge, C. (2014). Less is more: The future of the US military in the Persian Gulf. The Washington Quarterly, 37(3), 47–60.
Roy-Chaudhury, R. (2018). India and the Gulf region: Building strategic partnerships. International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), 29.
Russell, R. L. (2005). The Persian Gulf’s collective-security mirage. Middle East Policy, 12(4), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4967.2005.00226.x
Sadden, J., Wasser, B., Connable, B., & Grand-Clement S. (2017). Russian Strategy in the Middle East, https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/perspectives/PE200/PE236/RAND_PE236.pdf
Samaan, J. L. (2019). The Logic of the Rapprochement between India and the Arabian Gulf. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/79730
Saraswat, D., & Jain, T. (2019, October 31). Time for a new security architecture in the Persian Gulf: Understanding the American, Iranian and Russian security visions. Indian Council of Wold Affairs. https://www.icwa.in/show_content.php?lang=1&level=3&ls_id=4779&lid=2802
Savagheb, J. (2012). The importance of the Persian Gulf and the attempt to forge a new name. Foreign Relations History Quarterly, 51.
Scobell, A., & Nader, A. (2016). China in the Middle East: The Wary Dragon, www.rand.org/t/RR1229
Spykman, N. J. (2007). America’s strategy in world politics: The US and the balance of power (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315082431
The Institute for Structural Reforms. (2013). The new geopolitics in the Middle East, the US and China’s common interests in a regional peace.
Thompson, K. (1953). Collective security reexamined. American Political Science Review, 47(3), 753–772. https://doi.org/10.2307/1952903
Wakefield, B., & Levenstein, L. (2011). China and the Persian Gulf: Implications for the US. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Waldheim, K. (1972). Kurt Waldheim’s Speeches and Statements (1972). Available at : https://search.archives.un.org/downloads/united-nations-office-for-special-political-affairs-1955-1991.pdf
Waltz, K. N. (2014). Anarchic orders and balances of power. In Realism Reader (pp. 113–123). Routledge.
Yetiv, S. A., & Oskarsson, K. (2018). Challenged Hegemony: The US, China and Russia in the Persian Gulf. Stanford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mohammad, R.C., Sadeghiaval, H. (2023). The Security Order in the Persian Gulf and Its Challenges. In: Eslami, M., Guedes Vieira, A.V. (eds) The Arms Race in the Middle East. Contributions to International Relations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32432-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32432-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-32431-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-32432-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)