30th Anniversary of Gulf Studies

When the Gulf Studies programme was established in 1978, the Gulf was about five years into its first oil boom. Thirty years later, in 2008, the region is 5 years into its second major oil boom. The first oil boom was marked by a spirit of optimism in the Gulf shown in the overall agendas of the governments in the region.

Professor Tim Niblock, who is one of the founding members of the Gulf Studies programme, has nearly 40 years of service in the study of Middle East politics and contemporary Middle Eastern Studies in Britain. In his keynote address, he explains ‘Whereas the shadow of war remains in the region with the continuing problems in Iraq and the nuclear issue in Iran the conflict no longer dominates every political or research agenda in the region. We have not returned to the spirit of optimism of the first oil boom, but we have moved into a spirit of possibility: a sense that once again governments can develop and implement visions of transformative and far reaching change.’

According to Professor Niblock there are three main factors that underpin this new spirit of possibility, one being the current rise in the price of oil and balance of supply and demand. The second is the failure of external western states to find solutions to the Gulf regions problems, such as the failure of the US to develop a more coherent policy towards Iran; whereas regionally based strategies, like the ceasefire between HAMAS and Israel, were brokered by neighbours rather than western powers. The third is the expansion of international trade with growing economies in China and developing relations with India and South East Asia.

The issues raised at the first Gulf Studies conference in Exeter thirty years ago reflected on the trends of the time and served as a critique on the spirit of optimism. Some of the concerns highlighted were the continuing patterns of control and dependence in the region, environmental damage from the misuse or over-use of the natural environment, the weakness of constitutional structures (especially those related to rights, political participation and inter-state divisions and hostilities), and the way in which these intensified domestic problems and created opportunities for external powers to pursue or achieve their own interests in the region.

Current research agendas for social scientists looking at the Gulf today still have much the same concerns, with the exception of the position of women in the region, which was absent from the early Gulf conferences.

Academic research during the turbulent 1980s, when the Iran-Iraq War raged for eight years, became preoccupied with security studies.

In 2008, with the new spirit of possibility in the Gulf region, Professor Niblock suggests that, ‘the research agendas of the social sciences need to move back to many of the concerns first raised 30 years ago. The huge new developments which are changing the shape of Gulf societies and economies at the moment, and the more massive ones which are envisaged, need to be subjected to the same kind of questions we were raising in 1978. When we asked the questions then we were strong on identifying the problems, but we made insufficient progress in developing strategies through which the problems could be resolved. Today we have the advantage that there is a broader recourse of research expertise in our field, within the Gulf and outside.’

Professor Niblock’s contribution to developing world-class Middle East Studies centres at the universities of Durham and Exeter has contributed significantly to this expansion of expertise. A majority of the professors working in Middle East Politics in the UK are his former students. He is exceptionally well connected in the Arab and Islamic worlds and can walk into practically any embassy of an Arab or Islamic country and find former students. Something similar is true in key universities, ministries and organisations across the Middle East. His advice is frequently sought by government institutions in the UK and across Europe.

Professor Niblock commented, ‘I’m pleased that over the 30 year period so many students engaged in PhDs and MAs are now prominent in the field and in some respect have gone on and shaped Gulf Studies. Exeter’s Gulf Studies has helped shape the field internationally.’

His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi (Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Sharjah), who graduated with a PhD in Gulf History from Exeter in 1985, is the Gulf Studies programme’s most famous alumnus. In 1990, he paid for the construction of the University of Exeter’s Postgraduate Centre and, in 2001, he funded the construction of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at Exeter — the largest Middle East Studies centre in the UK. His Highness makes a point of attending the annual Gulf Studies conference at Exeter every year.

Timeline:

• 1978 Professor Muhammad Sha’ban establishes the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies (as the Gulf Studies programme was then known) — the first Gulf Studies centre in the Western world. It offers the only degree programme on the Gulf region in the world. Today, the programme covers anthropology, Arabic, development studies, economics, history, international relations, Islamic studies, literature, Persian, political science & sociolinguistics.
• 1979 Exeter convenes its first annual conference on Gulf region
• 1999 The Centre for Arab Gulf Studies merges with the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies to form the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS). The Centre for Arab Gulf Studies becomes the ‘Gulf Studies programme’.
• 2001 The new IAIS building is completed, donated by the Ruler of Sharjah, Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi
• The IAIS houses Gulf Collection — one of the largest archival collections on the Gulf in the world.
• 2005 Dr James Onley is appointed Director of the Gulf Studies programme
• 2008 The Times Good University Guide 2008 ranks the IAIS as one of the top two Middle East Studies departments/programmes in the UK, together with Oxford University.