The main theme of the research is to analyse the major reasons behind the international expansion of a large number of Arab Gulf banks. An attempt is made to examine the role of oil revenues of the 1970s in the development and international expansion of Arab banks. The study also analyses the role played by the financial markets of the region (i.e. Kuwait and Bahrain) in encouraging the regional and international expansion of Arab banks. Because of the unique features of the Gulf region a historical approach has been adopted to support an understanding of the present bankign practices of the Arab banks. The study follows the development of Arab Gulf banks since their inception in the 1950s and 1960s, and includes a survey investigating the expansion of these banks into the major international financial centres of Western Europe, the United States and more recently Tokyo. A comparative analysis to the operational aspects of Arab and other international banks is also provided. The survey was carried out through personal interviews with the senior managements of several Arab banks in London, which allows a comparison to be made between the factors that led to the international expansion of Arab Gulf and western banks. The involvement of Arab banks in the syndicated lending and eurobond markets, is closely examined. The study demonstrates that Arab banks' success in the euromarkets was not necessarily based on oil revenues as often assumed, but rather the trade finance of these banks that fuelled their international expansion.

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This dissertation provides a comparative analysis of the foreign policies of the Arab Gulf monarchies during the period of 1971 to 1990, as examined through two case studies: (1) the Arab Gulf monarchies’ relations with Iran and Iraq and (2) the six states’ positions in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The dissertation argues that, in formulating their policies towards Iran and Iraq, the Arab Gulf monarchies aspired to realize four main objectives: external security and territorial integrity; domestic and regime stability; economic prosperity; and the attainment of a stable subregional balance of power without the emergence of Iran or Iraq as Gulf hegemon. Over the largest part of the period under review, the Arab Gulf monarchies managed to offset threats to these basic interests emanating from Iran and Iraq by alternately appeasing and balancing the source of the threat. The analysis reveals that the Arab Gulf monarchies’ individual bilateral relations with Iran and Iraq underwent considerable change over time and, particularly following the Iranian Revolution, displayed significant differences in comparison to one another. These developments are attributable to both disparities among Arab Gulf monarchies and change over time with respect to a variety of factors: geostrategic position, military strength, the existence of military aggression, territorial claims, subversive activities, or ideological challenges by either Iran or Iraq, the national and sectarian composition and ideological orientation of the population, and national economic orientation. The thesis reveals that the Arab Gulf monarchies’ policies in the Arab-Israeli conflict were mainly influenced by (1) identity/ideology, (2) religion, and (3) strategic considerations. In consequence, during the entire period under review, all Arab Gulf monarchies, although setting different priorities, shared an objective in the realization of following interests: the realization of Palestinian national rights, the return of occupied Arab lands, and the restoration of Muslim control over the holy places in Jerusalem; the guarantee of regime stability; the preservation of strategic relations with the United States; the containment of Soviet penetration into the Arab world; the maintenance of Arab unity dominated by moderate Arab forces; and the attainment of a holistic peace settlement supported by an Arab consensus. The analysis shows that the Arab Gulf monarchies succeeded in realizing most of these objectives. In addition, the thesis highlights a significant rapprochement in the Arab Gulf monarchies’ individual policies in the Arab-Israeli conflict, a development most visible in the 1980s. The dissertation identifies the Arab Gulf monarchies as a unit of state and regime entities with broadly similar interests and challenges and, despite a striking power disparity among themselves, inferiority in power status compared with and vulnerability to their neighbours. The similarity of both their objectives and constraints motivated and even required them to cooperate and coordinate in the foreign policy arena. As the analysis demonstrates, this cooperation and coordination increased during the timeframe under review, even when individual foreign policies diverged.

This thesis studies attempts by Arab Gulf states to effectively lobby the US government. It explores aspects of their lobbying behaviour in order to identify the factors that lead to success and those that lead to failure from their lobbying endeavours. In this respect, the research utilizes two case studies: one in which Arab Gulf state lobbying was successful, and another in which lobbying failed. For each case study, the different elements involved in lobbying are analyzed and factors that lead to success as well as to failure are inferred. In tandem with an analysis of the strategies—or lack of them—behind Arab Gulf states’ lobbying, the research examines additional relevant factors such as the organization and activism of the US Arab American community, the strategic value of the Arab Gulf to the US, and the negative image of Arabs in America. The research then considers the hurdles and obstacles facing the establishment of an effective Arab Gulf lobby in the US. As a conclusion, the research evaluates the prospects of an effective Arab Gulf lobby, and highlights the research areas that should be tackled in the future.

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abstract: This dissertation research examines the impact of migration on the emotional well-being of temporary, low-wage workers who migrate from the Global South to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Unlike previous research in the UAE, this study’s sample reflects a far broader diversity of nationalities and occupations, and focuses on those earning in the lowest wage bracket. Their experiences revealed the systemic attributes of precarity and the violent structures that perpetuate them. My research addresses several substantive debates. I found that rather than emigrating for rational reasons—as neoclassical theory of migration posits—the migrants in my study tended to rationalize their reasons for emigrating through processes of cognitive dissonance. Further, where previous scholarship has tended to conflate issues of national, ethnic, and racial discrimination, I disentangle the processes that motivate discriminatory behavior by showing how seemingly innocuous references to “nationality” can be driven by a desire to hide racial prejudices, while at the same time, conflating all as “racism” can reflect a simplistic analysis of the contributing factors. I show how past historical structures of colonialism and slavery are manifest in current forms of structural violence and how this violence is differentially experienced on the basis of nationality, perceived racial differences, and/or ethnicity. Additionally, my research expands theories related to the spatial dimension of discrimination. It examines how zones of marginalization shape the experiences of low-wage migrant workers as they move through or occupy these spaces. Marginalizing zones limit workers’ access to the sociality of the city and its institutional resources, which consequently increase their vulnerability. Individual well-being is determined by stressful events that one encounters, by personal and external sources of resilience, and by perceptions of oneself and the stressful events. For the migrants in my study, their stressors were chronic, cumulative, and ambiguous, and while they brought with them a sufficient amount of personal resilience, it was often mitigated by non-compliance and lack of enforcement of UAE laws. The result was a state of well-being defined by isolation, fear, and despair. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2018

abstract: This dissertation research examines the impact of migration on the emotional well-being of temporary, low-wage workers who migrate from the Global South to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Unlike previous research in the UAE, this study’s sample reflects a far broader diversity of nationalities and occupations, and focuses on those earning in the lowest wage bracket. Their experiences revealed the systemic attributes of precarity and the violent structures that perpetuate them. My research addresses several substantive debates. I found that rather than emigrating for rational reasons—as neoclassical theory of migration posits—the migrants in my study tended to rationalize their reasons for emigrating through processes of cognitive dissonance. Further, where previous scholarship has tended to conflate issues of national, ethnic, and racial discrimination, I disentangle the processes that motivate discriminatory behavior by showing how seemingly innocuous references to “nationality” can be driven by a desire to hide racial prejudices, while at the same time, conflating all as “racism” can reflect a simplistic analysis of the contributing factors. I show how past historical structures of colonialism and slavery are manifest in current forms of structural violence and how this violence is differentially experienced on the basis of nationality, perceived racial differences, and/or ethnicity. Additionally, my research expands theories related to the spatial dimension of discrimination. It examines how zones of marginalization shape the experiences of low-wage migrant workers as they move through or occupy these spaces. Marginalizing zones limit workers’ access to the sociality of the city and its institutional resources, which consequently increase their vulnerability. Individual well-being is determined by stressful events that one encounters, by personal and external sources of resilience, and by perceptions of oneself and the stressful events. For the migrants in my study, their stressors were chronic, cumulative, and ambiguous, and while they brought with them a sufficient amount of personal resilience, it was often mitigated by non-compliance and lack of enforcement of UAE laws. The result was a state of well-being defined by isolation, fear, and despair. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2018

Arab Gulf monarchies including the constitutional monarchies of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman / and the absolutist monarchies of the Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in general, have a poor record of political liberalization. Until the early 1990&rsquo / s, there have been attempts to implement political reforms, however even limited political reforms have been short-lived. Nevertheless, political liberalization in the Arab Gulf monarchies has accelerated particularly since the end of the Cold War, as most of the Arab Gulf ruling elites were then convinced of opening up their political systems. Yet, regardless of similarities in their domestic political contexts, the quality and the quantity of political reform implemented, differed from one Arab Gulf state to another. This study aims to examine, how the ruling regimes of the Arab Gulf have responded to changes in the international context along with the increasing demands for political reform. In addition, it aims to provide the reader with a detailed examination of political liberalization in two specific Arab Gulf states, namely the Kuwait and the Saudi Arabia. Throughout this study, overall performances of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in terms of political liberalization are compared and the reasons why Kuwait has been noticeably more successful than Saudi Arabia in this field are studied. It is the basic conclusion of this study that despite Arab Gulf regimes have been slow in taking steps towards political liberalization, they are not immune to political liberalization, and that even the most conservative Arab Gulf monarchy, the Saudi Arabia has not been able to remain indifferent to change and political reform.

Cette thèse soutient que les politiques de migrations temporaires entravent la mobilité de l'individu, à partir du cas des migrants indiens dans la région du golfe persique. La pratique et le droit international définissent la mobilité comme le droit à la « liberté de mouvement » sans dispositions supplémentaires pour faciliter le choix de s’établir, permettant aux Etats de pratiquer ces politiques de convenance. Ce travail interdisciplinaire qui privilégie l’angle sociologique interroge les implications politiques et le droit international. Il montre que le non-respect prolongé des droits des migrants, surtout par les pays d’accueil, produit des conditions et des résultats restrictifs pour tous les acteurs- des indicateurs montrent l’exclusion systématique du migrant dans la société d’accueil. Cinq chapitres présentent empiriquement le « migrant » dans le golfe qui expérimente la vulnérabilité à différentes échelles : entrepreneurs, marchands-patriarches, travailleurs en col blanc, travailleurs en col bleu, et les femmes migrantes. La politique de migration temporaire des six Etats du Conseil de coopération du Golfe (GCC)- Arabie Saoudite, Oman, Émirats Arabes Unis, Qatar, Bahreïn et Koweït- constitue un exemple heuristique. Sans être un cas unique, il montre une exclusion plus sévère en raison de la nature conservatrice de ces monarchies et de la place de l’Islam comme religion d’Etat. Les politiques de migrations circulaires sont populaires aujourd’hui et les Etats en profitent à leur convenance en privilégiant la flexibilité et la non-intégration pour éviter les responsabilités vis-à-vis des migrants. Le migrant temporaire est donc, le travailleur précaire dans le marché mondial du travail. Le statut d’incertitude structurelle est aussi un des principaux éléments qui séparent « l’Indien du golfe » du reste des Indiens non-résidents (NRI). / The thesis highlights the evidence in the Arab-Gulf region with the Indian migrants to argue that the temporary migration policies hinder the individual’s mobility. International practice and law articulate mobility narrowly as merely the right to “freedom of movement” without also provision to facilitate the choice to settle, which allows states to perpetuate such expedient policies. The work is an inter-disciplinary approach, with mainly a sociological lens and interrogates the implications for policy and international law. It shows that mainly the receiving states’ prolonged non-respect of the migrant’s rights using the “temporary” frame produces limiting conditions and outcomes for all the actors- selected indicators show the systematic exclusion of the migrant in the host society. Five chapters empirically present the “guest worker” in the Gulf who experiences vulnerability at different levels: entrepreneur, trader-patriarch, white-collar worker, blue-collar worker and female migrant. The guest-worker policy practice of the six oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries- Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait- is a heuristic example. The GCC region is not a unique case although it might show more severe exclusion, due to the conservative regimes as monarchies and following Islam as the state-religion. Circular migration policies are popular today and states manifest expediency by privileging flexibility and non-integration to evade responsibility for the migrant. The guest-worker is hence, the precarious worker in the global labour market. The structural uncertainty is a factor that mainly also separates the “Gulf-Indian” from the larger non-resident Indian (NRI) population elsewhere.