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Historical Materialism 18 (2010) 35–76
brill.nl/hima
Khaleeji-Capital: Class-Formation and Regional Integration in the Middle-East Gulf *
Adam Hanieh
Zayed University, Dubai ahanieh@gmail.com
Abstract The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) are most typically understood from the perspective of their position as the world’s key oil- and gas-producing states. This essay explores the largelyoverlooked processes of class-formation in the GCC, and argues that very profound tendencies of capital-internationalisation are occurring alongside Gulf regional integration. The circuits of capital are increasingly cast at the pan-Gulf scale, and a capitalist class – described as khaleejicapital – is emerging around the accumulation-opportunities presented within the new regional space. The formation of khaleeji-capital represents the development of a class increasingly aligned with the interests of imperialism and has important ramifications for understanding the region’s political economy. Keywords Middle East, Gulf Cooperation Council, class-formation, regional integration, internationalisation, political economy.
1. Introduction Ongoing imperialist intervention in the Middle East has made the Gulfregion an important thematic focus within broader political-economy debates. Over the two decades stretching from the end of the Iran-Iraq War (1980–8) to the invasion and occupation of Iraq (from 2003 up until the present day), competing arguments have been advanced to explain the nature of imperialism in the region. Numerous theorists have variously emphasised the region’s importance as a source of oil and super-profits in the context of
* The author would like to thank Greg Albo, Sam Gindin, Ananya Mukherjee-Reed, David McNally, Alfredo Saad-Filho, Sabah Al-Nasseri, Anna Zalik, Gilbert Achcar, Rafeef Ziadah, the Historical Materialism editorial board and two anonymous reviewers for
brill.nl/hima
Khaleeji-Capital: Class-Formation and Regional Integration in the Middle-East Gulf *
Adam Hanieh
Zayed University, Dubai ahanieh@gmail.com
Abstract The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) are most typically understood from the perspective of their position as the world’s key oil- and gas-producing states. This essay explores the largelyoverlooked processes of class-formation in the GCC, and argues that very profound tendencies of capital-internationalisation are occurring alongside Gulf regional integration. The circuits of capital are increasingly cast at the pan-Gulf scale, and a capitalist class – described as khaleejicapital – is emerging around the accumulation-opportunities presented within the new regional space. The formation of khaleeji-capital represents the development of a class increasingly aligned with the interests of imperialism and has important ramifications for understanding the region’s political economy. Keywords Middle East, Gulf Cooperation Council, class-formation, regional integration, internationalisation, political economy.
1. Introduction Ongoing imperialist intervention in the Middle East has made the Gulfregion an important thematic focus within broader political-economy debates. Over the two decades stretching from the end of the Iran-Iraq War (1980–8) to the invasion and occupation of Iraq (from 2003 up until the present day), competing arguments have been advanced to explain the nature of imperialism in the region. Numerous theorists have variously emphasised the region’s importance as a source of oil and super-profits in the context of
* The author would like to thank Greg Albo, Sam Gindin, Ananya Mukherjee-Reed, David McNally, Alfredo Saad-Filho, Sabah Al-Nasseri, Anna Zalik, Gilbert Achcar, Rafeef Ziadah, the Historical Materialism editorial board and two anonymous reviewers for
References: A. Hanieh / Historical Materialism 18 (2010) 35–76 73 A. Hanieh / Historical Materialism 18 (2010) 35–76 75