The Gulf Cooperation Council and Its Member States as Inter-Regional Economic Players

This chapter uses the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of inter-regionalism and multiplexity in international relations to argue that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and its Member States are increasingly acting as inter-regional economic players. To this end, we examine five instances of inter-regional interactions involving the GCC and its Member States: (1) the participation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the BRICS+ 2024 enlargement; (2) the participation of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC); (3) the ongoing relationship between the GCC and the EU; (4) an emerging relationship between the GCC and the Central Asia region; (5) a similarly emerging relationship between the GCC and ASEAN. Having examined these interactions, we make two broad claims. Firstly, that the GCC and its Member States operate as inter-regional powers, connecting economically (as well as politically) different parts of the world. They play that role in different contexts and under different types of inter-regional interactions, all of which appear to serve a policy of multi-alignment in the context of an increasingly more complex and volatile world order. Notably, GCC economic inter-regional diplomacy appears to exhibit strong sectoral elements (predominantly revolving around matters relating to energy and climate change) and features of hard power (e.g., economic and energy dependence). Secondly, we argue that there are also potential risks in the economic inter-regionalism practiced by the GCC and the GCC Member States. In particular, we identify the risk of fragmentation (in terms of, e.g., rules, values and strategic priorities) and the risk of a potential new system of polarity arising out of the need to mediate between world powers with fundamentally competing worldviews that threaten to become increasingly more entrenched.