The underlying issues of inequality, corruption and poverty are still dogging the region, ten years after the protests.
Empty chairs: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE boycotted the 2017 meeting of the Gulf Cooperation council over their dispute with Qatar.
EPA-EFE/Noufal Ibrahim
Underlying issues which led to the three-year dispute have not been resolved.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks to the Abraham Accords signing ceremony at the White House on Sept. 15, 2020, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Sports diplomacy has eased relationships between nations before – here’s how it could help Israel, Bahrain and the UAE as they enter into new peace accords.
‘Beta testing’ of bold ideas is rare in foreign affairs, but the UAE and Bahrain have provided just such a test case for the Saudis in their own push to normalise relations with Israel.
Saudi King Salman accompanies Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, left, during the 40th Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in December 2019.
(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Gulf monarchies emerged from the Arab Spring relatively unscathed, while some Middle East republics were devastated by civil war. Here’s how they managed — and how education may have played a part.
The states of the Gulf Cooperation Council have exploited the underlying threats of the virus to bolster their own survival strategies.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II greets Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Buckingham Palace in central London on March 7, 2018.
Dominic Lipinski/AFP
To ensure its energy security and influence in the Gulf region, the United Kingdom will likely deepen its relations with GCC nations in a post-Brexit world.
Hakeem Al-Araibi’s case has become a crucial test of world football’s commitment to human rights.
AAP/EPA Diego Azubel
FIFA can act quickly and decisively for its sponsors. Now it must act for the human rights of one of its footballers.
The case of Hakeem Al-Araibi (left), detained in Thailand while on honeymoon, raises questions about how Interpol red notices can be misused to target refugees.
Diego Azubel/EPA/AAP
Interpol red notices play an important part in international policing. Here’s how they work and how the system could be improved to safeguard human rights.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Oct. 5, 2017.
AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin
When it comes to foreign policy, Saudi Arabia has recently become far more aggressive. A historian of the modern Middle East sees three possible causes for the shift.
A Djibouti soldier along the border with Eritrea after conflict flared in 2008.
Reuters/Omar Hassan
Martin Plaut, School of Advanced Study, University of London
Qatar withdrawing its troops has reignited tensions between Eritrea and Djibouti which the UN and African Union are trying to mediate. This comes as Eritrea is also embroiled in the Yemen civil war.
Nearly all of Qatar’s residents live in its capital, Doha.
Doha skyline via www.shutterstock.com
Saudi Arabia and the UAE led a group of countries that have severed all ties to fellow American ally Qatar over its foreign policy. The US will play a key role in whether it accedes to their demands.
Steffen Hertog, London School of Economics and Political Science
Oil prices have now almost halved in six months to below $60/barrel thanks to OPEC’s refusal to cut production. This means all the member countries are revising their government spending policies. While…
The decision by President Obama to launch missile and air strikes against Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaeda affiliate “Khorasan” in Syria draws the United States ever closer to yet another prolonged…