Description
This paper aims to explore views from the Arabian Peninsula about the study of IR theories. The Arabian Peninsula is a region where informal networks and non-state actors are often more influential in foreign policy than state institutions and concepts of sovereignty and legitimacy are understood in different terms and with different connotations than in Western cultures. Despite these cultural and institutional differences, governments in the Arabian Peninsula adopt Western frameworks for IR. Could there be a gap between Arabian views of IR and what IR theories assume to be the driving forces of IR in the Arabian Peninsula? The paper will explore Arabian views of IR and compare them with established IR views of the Middle East. The analysis of this paper will be based on experience of teaching IR theories in the Arabian Peninsula for over 10 years, as well as secondary source data in research on IR in the Middle East.
