Events

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) publicly reaffirms the principles of collective cooperation, however, as demonstrated in the Iran war, military defence is one of the areas which are far from integrated. During the last months the GCC witnessed a growing rift between once friendly rivals, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The strategic divergences of these two Gulf monarchies carry serious implications not only for the Gulf but the wider MENA region and even stretch to Yemen, Sudan and the Horn of Africa. The differences span from economic competition, foreign policy priorities, and approaches to regional conflicts – including domestic challenges ahead. Will the Iran war deepen these rifts or even increase the chance of building collective security frameworks?

With high level scholars and practitioners, we will examine the roots of this rift and assess its potential consequences and ways of deescalation.

Podium discussion with:

• Marius Bales, bicc
• Yasmine Farouk, International Crisis Group
• Thomas Demmelhuber, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg
• Kristin Diwan, Arab Gulf States Institute
• Gudrun Harrer, University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna