The GCC and the International Relations of the Gulf: Diplomacy, Security and Economic Coordination in a Changing Middle East
Matteo Legrenzi
I B Tauris, 2011
In the current political climate of extreme turbulence and almost unprecedented uncertainty in the Middle East it is oddly reassuring to think that, whatever happens, the Gulf Cooperation Council will remain resolute—steady as an oil-laden supertanker charting a course through a fearsome storm. The GCC has earned a reputation, not least in the past year, as one of the most resilient sub-regional organizations in the world (and certainly the most successful one in the Arab World), so it is with excellent timing that Matteo Legrenzi has published this thorough and comprehensive account of what the Council has (and has not) accomplished.
Legrenzi is an associate professor at the School of International Relations, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and his pedigree as a specialist on international relations—as well as what he has achieved in writing the work—is made very clear even before one opens the book. Luminaries of the international relations field such as Gary Sick, Gregory Gause, and Eugene Rogan, have heaped praise on The GCC and the International Relations of the Gulf, with Gause even going as far as to say that “it is the best book on the topic.”
But what exactly is the topic? Is it merely a potted history of the GCC and its involvement in certain major regional events since its foundation? Or is it a cynical presentation of the commonly held view that the GCC is a loose-knit and fairly symbolic body of regional rulers? Most assuredly it is neither. Legrenzi manages to plot a course between the widely-held and broadly skeptical view of the GCC as a notional council and the more excitable suggestions that the GCC brought about a monumental shift in Gulf diplomacy.
Using a variety of sources in several different languages, the author constructs something of a unique guide to the recent history and politics of the Gulf. It is evident throughout the book that he has privileged access to influential policy makers and high-level dignitaries, which fleshes out the work into something more than a dry analytical critique. Indeed, Legrenzi is at pains to point out that it was only through immersing himself in the region—spending a significant amount of time there—that he could transcend the more common and superficial analyses that surround his specialty subject.
One of the book’s great strengths is that the GCC is simply studied as an organization at face value, ignoring the common accusations that it is an artificially-created body and—by virtue of this simple approach—drawing persuasive conclusions as to the merits of the Council’s real contributions at the regional and international level.
Similarly, Legrenzi takes a back-to-basics approach in another area of mild controversy. Utilizing a clearly empirical method, the author is able to demonstrate how the formation of the GCC has had subtle (but important) effects upon the distinct societies of the Council’s constituent members. Indeed, these societal implications have also contributed to the complexities of a regional identity within the Gulf itself—an issue Legrenzi takes in a fascinating direction.
Ultimately, The GCC and the International Relations of the Gulf leaves the reader with a clear understanding of how cooperation within the Gulf really works, not simply how it is presented in the long-winded documents that are the receipts of the member nation’s diplomatic transactions. Within the context of the rise of Iran, the boom years of economic liberalization, and the shifting currents of regional diplomacy, Legrenzi has produced a guide to satisfy both the regional specialist and the occasional generalist. The supposed mysteries of Gulf relations are swept aside with the simple and effective use of rigorous methodology on the author’s part, and the un-disguisable impression that the author genuinely knows his subject.