Renegotiating the Ruling Bargain: Selling Fiscal Reform in the GCC

Gengler, Justin; Lambert, Laurent A.

doi:10.3751/70.2.21

Cited by 29 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Some scholars have put forward other factors behind the current reforms and the global engagement, namely the new generation of "neo-liberal" leaders in Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. These leaders want to reform the old model of fiscal reliance on oil and gas and share a common vision, partly inspired by the "Dubai model" of an economy financed by tourism, property markets, and fees and taxes paid by expatriates (Gengler and Lambert 2016). However, it is doubtful whether these elements of charisma and economic ideology are enough to push the reforms.…”

Section: Reflections and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Participation modes and diplomacy of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries towards the global sustainability agenda

Al‐Saidi¹,

Zaidan²,

Hammad³

2019

Development in Practice

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After decades of reluctance, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are now more engaged within the global sustainability agenda. Though they historically sought to coordinate strategies, differences in environmental diplomacy and participation modes currently exist. This article examines these differences and links diplomacy to political and economic considerations during different eras. It maps positions, activism in multilateral agreements, and investigates recent changes in light of increased domestic pressures and the rise of formalised national visions. The increased global environmental engagement of GCC countries can yield better outcomes, but environmental pillars do not feature highly in their current visions.

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Section: Reflections and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Participation modes and diplomacy of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries towards the global sustainability agenda

Al‐Saidi¹,

Zaidan²,

Hammad³

2019

Development in Practice

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“…A week after, Qatar's Emir told the Majlis (a local form of partly elected, partly appointed parliament) that the state can no longer "provide for everything"; the Qatari Minister of Development Planning and Statistics declared it "urgent" for the country to seek new revenue sources such as taxes and to better "rationalize" state support programs. Among the austerity measures, various water and electricity subsidy reform policies have aimed to decrease both per capita consumption rates and state expenditures [31].…”

Section: Qatar's National Water Allocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Rentier State under Blockade: Qatar’s Water-Energy-Food Predicament from Energy Abundance and Food Insecurity to a Silent Water Crisis

Hussein

Lambert

2020

Water

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This article investigates Qatar’s sustainability crisis of the high levels of water, electricity and food use. The high levels of consumption have been enabled by Qatar’s significant hydrocarbons wealth, a generous rentier state’s redistributive water governance, and structural dependence on imported food and food production subsidies. The water crisis is silent because it does not generate supply disruptions nor any public discontentment. The geopolitical blockade Qatar is experiencing sparked discussions in policy circles on the best ways to ensure food security, but has only exacerbated its water insecurity. The blockade makes more urgent than ever the necessity to maximize and increase synergies among different sectors.

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“…Hence the rise of statesponsored "militarized hypernationalism" (Al-Rasheed 2015), in the terms of Al-Rasheed, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia's newly-empowered Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states were also embarking on deep, unpopular structural reforms of the welfare state that required financial sacrifices of all citizens, after the 2014 crash in oil prices (Gengler and Lambert 2016). It was now the strengthening of national rather than sectarian identity that would help push forward the state's agenda, with Qatar-sympathizing traitors taking over for Shi'a fifth-columnists as the officiallysanctioned objects of scorn (Nereim 2019).…”

Section: Drawing Lessons From the Middle East's Unlikely De-sectarianmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sectarianism from the Top Down or Bottom Up? Explaining the Middle East’s Unlikely De-sectarianization after the Arab Spring

Gengler

2020

The Review of Faith & International Affairs

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Sectarian politics has retreated across the Middle East in the years after the Arab Spring, even as conflict between the region's two main sectarian actors-Iran and Saudi Arabia-has intensified. This essay explores this incongruence as a way of better understanding the nature and drivers of sectarianism and desectarianization in MENA states, supported by public opinion and other data that substantiate the post-2011 decline in Arabs' concern over sectarianism. It contends that the close correspondence between the rise and demise of the Arab Spring on the one hand, and that of sectarianism on the other, supports an instrumentalist interpretation of sectarian politics in the region.

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Renegotiating the Ruling Bargain: Selling Fiscal Reform in the GCC

Cited by 29 publications

References 3 publications

Participation modes and diplomacy of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries towards the global sustainability agenda

Participation modes and diplomacy of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries towards the global sustainability agenda

A Rentier State under Blockade: Qatar’s Water-Energy-Food Predicament from Energy Abundance and Food Insecurity to a Silent Water Crisis

Sectarianism from the Top Down or Bottom Up? Explaining the Middle East’s Unlikely De-sectarianization after the Arab Spring

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