In upcoming decades, the conservation and sustainable use of coastal and marine resources will become a major political and environmental challenge, as two-thirds of the world's population lives in coastal zones. The issue will likely become more problematic in developing countries, where an important number of coastal inhabitants still rely on marginal extractive activities such as fishing, farming and cattle ranching for subsistence, and where the rural poor's demand for development often lead to unsustainable extractive practices. Thus, innovative solutions need to be developed to ensure the long-term conservation and sound management of marine and coastal resources. This Masters thesis addresses the case of Coiba National Park, a marine protected area located in the Gulf of Chiriqui, Panama, and its relationship with coastal fishing and farming communities located at its outskirt. Particularly, this thesis aims to discover the drivers that pushed an important number of coastal agro-pastoralists of Coiba National Park's buffer zone to switch to artisanal fishing over the past three decades, and to determine the social, economic, and environmental impacts that resulted from that switch. In addition, this thesis analyses the relationship between Coiba National Park's authorities and buffer zone communities, and how this relationship has evolved over the years as more and more resource-users exploit the marine resources of the park. Finally, this work analyses Coiba National Park's current management strategy, how park authorities have been able to adapt their planning and management activities over the years, and explores alternatives to improve Coiba National Park's management strategy so that it can better adapt to the ever changing social, economic, and environmental conditions in which Coiba National Park's buffer zone operates.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the foreign policy outcomes of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to understand the extent to which a Regional Intergovernmental Organization (RGO) consisting of developing nations is able to promote regional cooperation. Much of the literature on integration and the formation of Intergovernmental Organizations was developed with regard to western nations. These approaches are examined for their contributions to foreign policy behavior analysis and with respect to understanding why small and developing nations join such organizations. Final analysis of the outcomes using two scales to measure the organization's ability to promote regional cooperation reveal that the level of success was moderate and the level of political action undertaken by the GCC was generally moderate to low. Leadership is supportive of the organization but both external and internal factors contribute to the modest levels achieved so far. Issues of national sovereignty and a decade of regional conflicts affected the ability of the organization to achieve greater levels or regional cooperation.

This study will focus on explaining the dynamics of Saudi Arabia’s national security. In explaining these dynamics, the study will consider two of Buzan’s frameworks for analysing national security. Further enhancement will be given by conceptualising specific assumptions about Saudi Arabia’s national security – these will be based on the manner in which certain features are utilised within the Saudi state. Semistructured interviews will be utilised to examine the findings from the adapted frameworks. By studying the state’s domestic, regional and international concerns, as well as the specific threats that each level pose with regards to several security sectors (including the: social, political, economic, militant and environmental), this study will provide a distinctive analysis of national security within the Saudi state. Initially, this study acknowledges that only a few studies have been conducted into Saudi Arabia’s national security; furthermore, these have focused on the internal perspective by considering Saudi national security in terms of its military and strategic partnerships. Secondly, the study proposes that Saudi Arabia is unique (and unlike any other state) as it holds various important social and religious aspects that are not fully understood by external sources. Consequently, this study conceptualises Saudi national security from the internal perspective by considering the Saudi state’s specific features.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Events at the beginning of the 21st century have brought a fundamental change to the security environment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of a significance not witnessed in the region since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003 eliminated the most significant external threat facing Saudi Arabia. At the same time, internal threats to the Kingdom appear to be increasing. The demographic and economic challenges facing the Kingdom are contributing to internal instability. Increased instances of political violence, particularly suicide bombings against targets within the Kingdom, have been carried out by terrorists linked to al-Qaeda. These attacks have targeted Westerners and, for the first time in May 2003, non-Saudi Muslims. This paper examines the security challenges facing Saudi Arabia at the start of the 21st century. It argues that while external threats to the Kingdom remain, the greater threat to security may lie within the Saudi state: the result of a failure to address current political realities. Major security challenges include the threat from Iran, economic and demographic pressures, the question of succession within the ruling al-Saud family and maintaining the U.S.- Saudi security partnership, a relationship which has endured over 50 years. / Captain, United States Air Force

This Project examines the coexistence of two cultures?–?in this case the host Gulf, and the imported Western?–?and addresses certain problems that still need attention. This Project celebrates the creation of the third, hybrid, culture as a result of their intermingling. In this Research, Postcolonial Theory? and Transitional Object Theory? are used as conceptual frameworks, and are combined with Archaeology and Design as a practice. On a personal level, the Project evolved out of my cross-cultural origin and experiences. On an academic level, the Project serves as an experiment, trying to fill the gaps in the Gulf region’s search for identity. This Project utilized Design in two phases, initially during the research, and then as tool?/ language to mediate the issues found within the cross-cultural context. The Project explores and questions the ways in which artifacts/objects alter our perception, experience and memory. On an interdisciplinary level, this Project claims that Design?–?as a discipline –?is integrated in the process of curating memories through the creation of physical objects. Since objects have always been used as tools to dictate the narratives of our social memory, questions of power and control are essential – the current status of this region is a third culture, a hybrid product of Culture ‘A’ and Culture ‘B’. This project is interested in mechanisms that can be used to preserve this interesting phenomena often stigmatized as negative.

Includes an addendum. / Bibliography : leaves 217-233. / iii, 284 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 1994

Promoting economic diversity is important for states reliant on natural resources as the major source of economic development. Many of these states suffer from the Dutch disease leading to negative effects, which hinders economic diversification. One of the ways to reduce dependency on national resources is to encourage Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows, which aids diversification by the transfer of technology, the creation of new employment opportunities, and the adoption of modern management practices. The Gulf Council Cooperation (GCC) countries recognised the necessity and benefits of FDI as an aid to economic diversification; it seems, however, that Kuwait is lagging behind in this endeavour. The government of Kuwait has engaged in a series of policy measures to induce Multinational Companies (MNCs) to invest in Kuwait, but the results, thus far, have been disappointing. The formal and informal institutions interact in a variety of ways. However, ineffective formal rules can create different outcomes; particularly, in the presence of strong informal institutions. In such a case, formal rules and procedures are not enforced systematically, that is, enabling actors who are involved in the policy process to ignore or violate them, which subsequently results in a failure to attract inward FDI to a host country. Thus, this study investigates the reasons behind this failure by examining the role of formal and informal institutions on FDI policy and on decisions on whether to grant FDI licences by means of using a New Institutional Economics (NIE) approach. The conceptual framework is used as a guide for an inquiry into the subject of study by constructing a category of intellectual scaffolding, which would provide a coherent structure (Schlager, 2007). The conceptual framework in this study systematically organises the investigation into how a MNC examines a potential investment location by dividing the host country assessments into four distinct 'stages'. When systematically conducted, the respective approach is grounded in the existing literature, which provides theories regarding the behaviour of MNCs in relation to their decision-making processes for considering locations for their FDI projects. The research questions derived from the conceptual framework are answered using a mixed methods research approach that uses three sets of data survey, semi-structured interviews, and secondary data. Firstly, the findings show that almost that all MNCs in the Gulf region have a limited awareness regarding investment opportunities in Kuwait, FDI laws and regulations. Secondly, the findings reveal a number of attractive and unattractive locations, and institutional factors of Kuwait. Finally, it is discovered that the high rejection rate of FDI applications is linked to unsuccessful policy implementation, which is a result of interaction of both formal and informal institutions in Kuwait. Subsequently, the results are utilised to make a number of recommendations for government policy makers, administrators, and for MNCs regarding how to improve FDI inflows into Kuwait. The results are also used to contribute towards the international business literature concerning the institution based view of FDI, and for government policy connected to attracting FDI.

Following the 1973 rise in the price of oil, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations of the Middle East became hosts to hundreds of thousands of foreign workers taking part in the economic development of the region. From the beginning, the employment of migrant workers was seen as a temporary measure, necessary to compensate for the small indigenous populations in the Gulf. The numbers of foreign workers has become so great, that the migrants now constitute a majority of the population in several of the GCC countries. The relative permanence with which foreign workers have now established themselves is of great concern to the host governments. It appears that the insufficient skill-levels and sizes of the national workforces, together with the position the extensive and growing migrant communities hold in the growing Gulf economies point to the continued presence of large foreign populations for some time to come.

After the discovery of oil, many Arab Gulf States failed to diversify and expand their economies beyond the oil sector. Resource curse theory contends these states, also known as rentier states, exhibited slower economic development than other states due to their dependency on oil. Dubai has been classified as a rentier state, however, it has achieved significant economic growth and political stability. Kuwait and Qatar were selected as case studies to compare and contrast with Dubai. Dubai s growth can be attributed to its rulers decisions prior to and after the discovery of oil and the growing role of the merchant class in the state. Therefore, the resource curse theory alone cannot address the development of Arab Gulf states.