Description
Since the establishment of the modern state on the Arab shore of the Persian Gulf, the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf preferred foreign protection, mainly by the United States, over developing strong, well-equipped militaries. The fear of military coups inspired by those that took place in neighboring Arab countries, such as Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Libya, in the 1950s and 1960s was the main reason behind the underdevelopment of the military architecture in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. With the turn of the 2000s, the military architecture in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf witnessed a massive transformation. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have indulged in a regional arms race competing over enhancing their military capabilities in terms of both quantity and quality.
This paper addresses the question: Why have Saudi, the UAE, and Qatar indulged in a regional arms race? In answering the research question, the paper argues that the anarchy in the Middle East regional order has instigated a security dilemma for the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf; hence leading to an arms race among Saudi, the UAE, and Qatar. In laying out the argument, the paper starts with providing a conceptual framework to understand the relationship between anarchy, security dilemma, and arms race. I then move on to discuss the anarchy in the Middle East regional system highlighting its three main drivers: crises that hit the region since 2003 and absence of regional leadership, competition among regional powers, and the unreliability of the US as the security guarantor. The following section addresses Saudi and the UAE’s security dilemma that is instigated by the anarchy in the regional system, and Qatar’s security dilemma triggered by Saudi and the UAE’s growing military capabilities. Finally, the paper investigates the arms race in the Persian Gulf focusing on two main, interrelated drivers: enhancing military capabilities, and increasing and strengthening security partnerships.
