Intra-Regional Alignment Strategy of Small States in Gulf area: Cases of Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-121
Author(s):  
Syed Ahmad Israa Syed Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Small States ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
External Threats ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
Ruling Elites ◽  
Alignment Strategy

The Middle East may not possess any great power, but the region has, within itself, several states that hold relatively bigger capabilities and resources compared to the others. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, Egypt, and previously Iraq, are competing to be the main stakeholder in this highly chaotic region. This paper attempts to do a comparative analysis on two gulf countries: Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two countries are selected as both are the key economic and strategic players among the small states in the Middle East. The intra-regional alignment behavior of Qatar and UAE as small states in Middle East proves that even in a region where alignments are multi-layered (with intra-regional powers and with international big powers), small states alignment behavior is heavily driven by the intention of minimalizing threats, if not to diminish it completely. Such behavior is expected from states that feel vulnerable within the anarchical environment externally. The external threats and uncertainties, however, are selected and faced according to how the ruling elite perceives it. To preserve domestic political legitimacy, threats and alignment choices become the useful cards for the ruling elites to show their authority, performance, and stature to their domestic audience.

Turkey's rift with Saudi Arabia will not end soon

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Middle East ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Joint Ventures ◽  
The Other ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
Political Differences

Significance The two-day visit has not averted the growing confrontation between Turkey on one hand and the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the other. This is forming a new and important cleavage in the politics of the Middle East. Impacts Turkish exports to the Gulf countries look vulnerable. Turkey will avoid allowing its political differences with Saudi Arabia to affect business links. Saudi investments in Turkey, at about 6 billion dollars, will be a stabilising factor. Joint ventures in the arms industry could be the main casualties.

India’s Gulf ties will face setbacks in the near term

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Middle East ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gcc Countries ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
Near Term

Significance Indian nationals are struggling to maintain jobs in the Middle East as GCC states contend with historically low oil prices as well as the economic fallout of the pandemic. Gulf countries have meanwhile expressed concern at what they regard as growing anti-Muslim sentiment in India. Impacts Pakistan will step up efforts to gather support from GCC countries regarding the Kashmir issue. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will increase investment in India’s health and tech sectors. The number of Indian migrant workers in South-east Asia, Australia and Canada will gradually increase.

Kanduras ‘Khaleeji style’: Investigating Gulf masculinities and dress

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 73-91
Author(s):  
Lezley George
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
Gender Politics ◽  
Cultural Authority ◽  
National Service ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
Politics Of Space ◽  
Body Practices

Far more research is dedicated to assessing women’s fashioned bodies than for men’s in the Middle East and particularly in Gulf countries. Across the Gulf, male national citizens typically wear a long ‘dress-like’ garment, with regionally designated names of kandura , dish-dasha or thobe, and in colours delineated depending on the particular GCC state. Particularly focusing on the United Arab Emirates, I investigate how the kandura, when combined with the ghutra (white headscarf) and agal (black rope with tassels), becomes representational of national hegemonic masculinity and performatively styled to underline cultural authority and authenticity. These garments are deemed traditional attire, but on a closer inspection, they act as sites to investigate coded signs of cultural fashion capital and ‘local’ tastes. This article critically unpacks these constructs and their meanings for Khaleeji masculinity by examining three main ‘spaces’ – work, leisure and military national service – to scrutinize how the gender politics of space operates on men’s dressed body practices and underpins an emblematic presentation of privilege and patriotic manhood.

scholarly journals Characterisation of S. aureus/MRSA CC1153 and review of mobile genetic elements carrying the fusidic acid resistance gene fusC

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Monecke ◽  
Elke Müller ◽  
Sascha D. Braun ◽  
Marc Armengol-Porta ◽  
Michèle Bes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Resistance Gene ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Fusidic Acid ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Dna Microarrays ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
Acid Resistance ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
Enterotoxin Genes

AbstractWhile many data on molecular epidemiology of MRSA are available for North America, Western Europe and Australia, much less is known on the distribution of MRSA clones elsewhere. Here, we describe a poorly known lineage from the Middle East, CC1153, to which several strains from humans and livestock belong. Isolates were characterised using DNA microarrays and one isolate from the United Arab Emirates was sequenced using Nanopore technology. CC1153 carries agr II and capsule type 5 genes. Enterotoxin genes are rarely present, but PVL is common. Associated spa types include t504, t903 and t13507. PVL-positive CC1153-MSSA were found in Egyptian cattle suffering from mastitis. It was also identified among humans with skin and soft tissue infections in Saudi Arabia, France and Germany. CC1153-MRSA were mainly observed in Arabian Gulf countries. Some isolates presented with a previously unknown SCCmec/SCCfus chimeric element in which a mec B complex was found together with the fusidic acid resistance gene fusC and accompanying genes including ccrA/B-1 recombinase genes. Other isolates carried SCCmec V elements that usually also included fusC. Distribution and emergence of CC1153-MRSA show the necessity of molecular characterization of MRSA that are resistant to fusidic acid. These strains pose a public health threat as they combine resistance to beta-lactams used in hospitals as well as to fusidic acid used in the community. Because of the high prevalence of fusC-positive MRSA in the Middle East, sequences and descriptions of SCC elements harbouring fusC and/or mecA are reviewed. When comparing fusC and its surrounding regions from the CC1153 strain to available published sequences, it became obvious that there are four fusC alleles and five distinct types of fusC gene complexes reminiscent to the mec complexes in SCCmec elements. Likewise, they are associated with different sets of ccrA/B recombinase genes and additional payload that might include entire mec complexes or SCCmec elements.

Iraq's regional standing In the International Competition situation in the Middle East

2019 ◽  
pp. 484
Author(s):  
Arkan Ibrahim Adwan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
The State ◽  
International Competition ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
Competition Situation

The researcher aimed to identify the most important elements of power for the state of Iraq. As a historically had a country of prestige and influence in its regional, which has made it very important to global and regional powers, in order to achieve their interests in the region.

HERITAGE IN THE LIVED ENVIRONMENT OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AND THE GULF REGION

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph John Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Gulf Region ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Spatial Features ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
The Social ◽  
Islamic Values

This paper examines how the architectural, social, and cultural heritage of the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries may contribute to better development of this region’s lived environment. Modern urbanism has largely neglected heritage in architectural design and in social and private spaces, creating inauthentic places that foster a hunger for belongingness in the UAE’s built environment. The paper reviews recent urban developments in the UAE and the Gulf Region, and identifies elements of local heritage that can be incorporated into contemporary planning and design. It proposes that adapting vernacular architectural heritage to the modern built environment should not be the principal goal for heritage-informed design. Instead we may examine the social processes underlying the traditional lived environment, and aim for social sustainability based on the lifeways and preferences of local peoples, especially in kinship and Islamic values. Among the most promising precedents for modern social sustainability are social and spatial features at the scale of the neighborhood in traditional Islamic settlements. Interviews with local Emiratis will also recommend elements of traditional knowledge to modern settings. 

The United Arab Emirates: Statehood and Nation-Building in a Traditional Society

2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frauke Heard-Bey
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Abu Dhabi ◽  
Traditional Society ◽  
National State ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
The Individual

Nationals represent barely 20% of the population in the United Arab Emirates, but form the economically and socially privileged group of UAE citizens. The Rulers of the seven emirates were able to retain the historical loyalty of the “Emiratis” by advancing the economic development of the individual states, while Abu Dhabi-financed federal development helped to create a viable national state. Democratization is not of the same urgency as in some neighboring Gulf countries.

Advancing Innovations in Renewable Energy Technologies as Alternatives to Fossil Fuel Use in the Middle East

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damilola S Olawuyi
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Electricity Grid ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
Environmentally Responsible ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Legal Barriers

Despite increasing political emphasis across the Middle East on the need to transition to lower carbon, efficient, and environmentally responsible energy systems and economies, legal innovations required to drive such transitions have not been given detailed analysis and consideration. This chapter develops a profile of law and governance innovations required to integrate and balance electricity generated from renewable energy sources (RES-E) with extant electricity grid structures in the Middle East, especially Gulf countries. It discusses the absence of renewable energy laws, the lack of legal frameworks on public–private partnerships, lack of robust pricing and financing, and lack of dedicated RES-E institutional framework. These are the main legal barriers that must be addressed if current national visions of a low-carbon transition across the Middle East are to move from mere political aspirations to realization.

scholarly journals 1293. Sulbactam-durlobactam is active against recent, multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates from the Middle East

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S662-S662
Author(s):  
Alita Miller ◽  
Sarah McLeod ◽  
Samir Moussa ◽  
Meredith Hackel
Keyword(s):  
Antibacterial Activity ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Acinetobacter Baumannii ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Blood Stream ◽  
Multidrug Resistant ◽  
Clinical Isolates ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Spectrum Activity

Abstract Background The incidence of infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) is increasing at an alarming rate in certain regions of the world, including the Middle East. Sulbactam (SUL) has intrinsic antibacterial activity against Ab; however, the prevalence of β-lactamases in Ab has limited its therapeutic utility. Durlobactam (DUR, formerly ETX2514) is a diazabicyclooctenone β-lactamase inhibitor with broad-spectrum activity against Ambler class A, C and D β-lactamases that restores SUL activity in vitro against MDR Ab. SUL-DUR is an antibiotic designed to treat serious infections caused by Acinetobacter, including multidrug-resistant strains, that is currently in Phase 3 clinical development. In global surveillance studies of >3600 isolates from 2012-2017, the MIC90 of SUL-DUR was 2 mg/L. Although surveillance systems to monitor MDR infections in the Middle East are currently being established, quantitative, prevalence-based data are not yet available. Therefore, the potency of SUL-DUR was determined against 190 recent, diverse Ab clinical isolates from this region. Methods 190 Ab isolates were collected between 2016 - 2018 from medical centers located in Israel (N = 47), Jordan (N = 36), Qatar (N = 13), Kuwait (N = 42), Lebanon (N = 8), Saudi Arabia (N = 24) and United Arab Emirates (N = 20). Seventy-five percent and 20.5% of these isolates were from respiratory and blood stream infections, respectively. Susceptibility to SUL-DUR and comparator agents was performed according to CLSI guidelines, and data analysis was performed using CLSI and EUCAST breakpoint criteria where available. Results This collection of isolates was 86% carbapenem-resistant and 90% sulbactam-resistant (based on a breakpoint of 4 mg/L). The addition of SUL-DUR (fixed at 4 mg/L) decreased the sulbactam MIC90 from 64 mg/L to 4 mg/L. Only 3 isolates (1.6%) had SUL-DUR MIC values of > 4 mg/L. This potency was consistent across countries, sources of infection and subsets of resistance phenotypes. Conclusion SUL-DUR demonstrated potent antibacterial activity against recent clinical isolates of Ab from the Middle East, including MDR isolates. These data support the global development of SUL-DUR for the treatment of MDR Ab infections. Disclosures Alita Miller, PhD, Entasis Therapeutics (Employee) Sarah McLeod, PhD, Entasis Therapeutics (Employee) Samir Moussa, PhD, Entasis Therapeutics (Employee)

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