Persian Gulf

The primary concern of this research is to reassess the British foreign policy, focusing on its military withdrawal in 1971 from the Persian Gulf and its return in 2014. The Persian Gulf, as a region of geo-strategic importance, has always been at the center of attention for the UK and other great world powers. This study will therefore attempt to answer the following question: what are the realities behind the British retreat from the Persian Gulf in 1971, and its return to the region after 43 years? Britain, which has a significant history of military presence in the Persian Gulf, decided to keep a low profile in the Arab hosting countries since 1971. The UK has been working to manage interstate conflicts among Arab-speaking countries, deter Iran, and maintain its ‘special relationship’ with the U.S. In terms of the theoretical framework of the study, realist theory will be used by focusing on the defensive and offensive realism as the instrument of analysis. Britain’s military withdrawal from the Persian Gulf can be analyzed through defensive realism, whereas its military return to the region could be explained by offensive realism. The case study method has been helpful in arriving at the conclusion that the main motivation for the British military presence in the Persian Gulf has been to strengthen an alliance with the Gulf’s periphery Arab States.

 The research on social networks and collaborative strategies has highlighted from the mid of 1980 which has contributed to the success and development of firms. The relationship and communication with trade partners in overseas help success of firms in entering to foreign markets and improve new partners and new markets abroad. Doing firm internationalization in foreign countries faces some barriers in external environment. These firms also face a lack of resources and capabilities and unprotected against environmental changes. Export managers through relational aspects of social network able to overcome the challenges and expand success in their internationalizing firms. The aims of this paper is to survey the correlation between internationalization orientation such as inward and outward internationalization and relational elements of social network such as trust, favor and friendship among Malaysian manufacturing firms exporting to the countries surrounding the Persian Gulf. The data was collected from 120 manufacturing firms in Malaysia by using a mail survey. The findings illustrate that two operations of internationalization means inward and outward internationalization orientation are positively and significantly correlated with all dimensions of relational elements means trust, favor and friendship. The results of this study can contribute to internationalizing firms and enhances relational marketing knowledge.        JEL Classification: F55, L10 

Foreign policy cooperation and coordination among the European Community member states and presenting Europe with a single voice, has long been an important challenge within the European Community/European :union:, especially since early 1970s. In the early 1990s, following the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, there was a general speculation in Europe that the EC may be able to play a new role in international system and fill the vacuum created by the the Soviet :union:. The Kuwait crisis, in the wake of Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, was the first test for the European ambitions in the post-cold war era. Many European leaders saw it as an opportunity to present a European initiative and play an effective role towards the crisis. Then, the first reactions of the EC, unprecedentedly, were quick and unanimous. This unanimity continued during the first phase of the crisis, when the counter-measures to the crisis were mainly economic and to a lesser extent political. But with the appearance of the military dimension of the crisis, the EC was no longer able to maintain unanimous standand the member states were divided into two camps: Atlanticists and Europeanists. Britain, occasionally supported by Denmark and Netherlands, sided with the US which pursued a military solution to the crisis. While the Franco-German axe, followed by the rest of member states, preferred a diplomatic solution to the crisis in a longer span. As far as the military operation seemed imminent, the division became deeper. In practice, when military operation began, the Europeans have no choice except to follow the American lead. These developments were influential on formation of the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) as the second pillar of the EU in Maastricht in 1992.

The first season of survey at Qeshm, carried out during the winter of 2006, resulted in the identification of nine sites from the Parthian and Sasanian periods. The surface pottery from these sites suggests their trade and cultural relations with contemporary sites in the southern Persian Gulf and other areas. For instance, the Parthian and Sasanian glazed types in Qeshm Island are closely related materials found from Khuzestan as well as northern and southern coasts of the Persian Gulf, including ed-Dur, Suhar, Kush, Failaka and Qalat Bahrain. Parthian painted ware reveals close similarities to monochrome and bichrome painted pottery of southeastern Iran, Oman coasts and the southern Persian Gulf, specifically ed-Dur, Suhar, Kush and Tel-i-Abrak. The so-called Indian Red Polished Ware is the other diagnostic type widespread in the northern and southern coasts of the Persian Gulf from the middle Parthian up to the early Islamic period. The material was being widely produced in the Indian region (Gujarat) and Indus, and exported to different places around the Persian Gulf. The Coarse Black Ware (ceramic noir epaise) with decorative raised bands recorded in Qeshm compares with coarse-black material from the southern Persian Gulf, also occurring at sites such as ed-Dur and Abu Dhabi Islands. Plain, common Parthian and Sasanian pottery from Qeshm shows parallels with known materials of this period in the northern and southern Persian Gulf.

Technical and environmental challenges resulted from an off-design running condition of processes on a platform is an important issue. The weakness of strategies to stop or decrease the amount of the greenhouse gas emission production rate in the Persian Gulf is another important matter of concern which is intensively increasing. Recently, modern methods of energy generation from available renewable potentials near offshore platforms are suggested in the literature. Integration of renewable energy converters with offshore oil and gas platforms can solve both problems with machinery and environment to an acceptable extent. In this study, the economics of an offshore complex installed in the Persian Gulf is subjected to two different power generation systems. The first case defines the present condition in which the total power demand of the complex is supplied by burning the associated extracted natural gas on board the platform in its thermal power plant. The second case considers a wind farm located near Bardekhun in Bushehr province to be connected to the complex power network and shares its renewable source generated power with the platform. The economics and relative emission production of both cases are compared. Wind speed average and wind turbine power generation are considered having uncertainties. Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) method is used to consider those uncertainties in outcomes. The second case is found obviously more beneficial however there are some conservative assumptions included due to a shortage of data and limitations which makes it more attractive.

The structure of governments in the West Asian region, which is part of the civilization of the Islamic world, faces major challenges in governance, and due to the fundamental differences between Islamic political thought and Western humanist political thought, Islamic countries are well on their way. They do not adopt regional governance. Meanwhile, the geopolitical region of Southwest Asia and the countries bordering the Persian Gulf are no exception.In the years leading up to 2020, for example, the geopolitical region of Southwest Asia has undergone many changes due to some geopolitical factors, such as the efforts of some Arab countries to form a pregnant Arab military coalition. The mentioned Arab military coalition, which is planned and pursued under the influence of geopolitical issues in the region, can be evaluated and analyzed by looking at the position of the three components of nation, nationality and identity in Islam, a process that is influenced by world developments. Modern has been adopted and is indifferent to the past history of the Islamic world and the basic concepts of this religion.The present study believes that although the concepts in Islamic political thought and its religious teachings provide ideal opportunities for the production and maintenance of security, the strong influence of the Islamic world on Western political thought does not allow for such decisions. The security situation in the geopolitical region of Southwest Asia has deprived it of permanent stability and security.

The significance of neighborhood relations in geopolitics cannot be over-emphasized. As a space for neighborhood relations, sport is one of the most effective issues in power, competition, and convergence on national and transnational scales. International competitive sports are useful for remembering people to compare themselves with the other nation’s achievements and capabilities. Meanwhile, the Persian Gulf is the most significant region in the world due to its energy resources and strategic position. Tensions between the regional states have increased, especially between Iran and some Arab states. Most of these tensions have appeared in sport and athletic competitions. Therefore, the emergence of political-geographical rivalry in sports contests can be studied as the geopolitics of sport. This descriptive-analytic paper explained the power aspects in sport and politics from the point of the geopolitics of sport in the Persian Gulf region and studied geopolitical competitions in the region and its interaction in the sporting arena. The results of the research indicate that sports contests can bring sphere of convergence and cooperation and in some cases can provide the increasing and strengthen of tension and competition.

Localization of sustainable development goals could reasonably provide a framework to how local and regional governments meet their requirements in respective jurisdictions. Due to the importance of the environment protection in the process of the “sustainable development”, it is crucial for the states to include sustainable development goals in their regulations, laws and policies. In this perspective, presenting new approaches is utterly requested to protect the maritime environment of the Persian Gulf from destruction and degradation. Undoubtedly, there are a number of challenges and obstacles regarding the localization of SDGs in this region that the present paper will examine the strategies for addressing them. In fact, if environmental rules are internalized as a part of the domestic legal system, they will become more prominent and will be more respected. For this reason, one of the fundamental goals of this paper is to elaborate a suitable methodology to explain and design localized indicators of development sustainability at the regional level of the Persian Gulf. The main goals of sustainable development are to attain durable development in maritime areas in which efforts are made to provide a balance between economy, community and the marine environment.

Considering and determining natural, cultural and historical potentials of Persian -gulf and Iranian island for the purpose of realizing sustainable development of tourism, in 3 global, regional and domestic levels, so, daring strategies -other than available ones-should be provided, for planning and future developing it's tourism .Because, Iran's islands, being situated in Persian gulf, have a rare treasury of eco-tourism in south of Iran, as a result of enjoying from natural attractions and unique tourist places. In contrast to performed attempts, a little share of national development has been allocated into this region and even, it suffers from strange deprivations, in some cases. Furthermore, sustainable development of Iranian islands, being located in Persian gulf requires specific attention, as a result of geographical nature of island, from ecological view band existing special eco-systems, such as coral reefs, have forests, it's internal wide and specific lands  and location of island, against sea and coast, in addition  to irregular process of development, in past .This kind of attention must be on the basis of exact determining available condition, from  all aspect, and continuous planning and managing, from environment view. This paper, considering the nature and axes of the Persian Gulf congress, (with the approach of tourism and international interactions), seeks to come up with a different method, drawing from studies and experiences in the field of coastal tourism and the relative success of the southern neighbors Iran will analyze this and demonstrate that by presenting a strategic conceptual model, its impact on the development of tourism in the spectacular and attractive areas of the Persian Gulf. From the analysis and conclusion of the discussed issues, it follows that the necessity of benefiting from all effective methods, from environmental attraction to modern technology, to improve the current level of these areas, from the perspective of tourism for Iran, is essential and should be considered based on scientific and research factors.

Environmental risks and conflicts in the framework of the relations between countries and subsequently their role-playing in interaction and collaboration or conflicts and struggles between political actors especially in the level of states have reproduced serious discussions and disputes on the environment, security, and power which are interpreted as environmental geopolitics or ecopolitics by modern political geography. Geographically, the Persian Gulf is a semi-enclosed sea that has a very low capacity of self-dredging in comparison to that of high seas; hence, it retains the pollutants for longer periods of time. Some of its environmental problems arise from the various activities of the people residing along the northern and southern shores. If the situation is exacerbated by the factors such as oil and its subsequent pollutions, militarism and its subsequent destruction, desalination of seawater, and the construction of artificial islands, one can conclude that regional convergence between the countries neighboring this body of water in the process of bioregionalism would be of an essential necessity. According to the research findings, states acting in the geopolitical region of the Persian Gulf to produce power, security and to sustain them, from one hand, and to protect this shared aquatic ecosystem in the event of sustainable development, from the other hand, should mobilize all collective cooperations and operationalize the bioregionalism in regional and supranational scales.

The formation and activity of naval alliances formed in the waters of southern Iran may lead to a critical situation in the region and an increase in military tension between the naval units of the Iranian army and the military units of the coalition forces. In response to this question, the current research, what roles can the Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran play in confronting naval coalitions? This research is applied in terms of purpose and qualitative in nature. For this purpose, qualitative data was collected by using a questionnaire and through semi-structured interviews with 12 experts and specialists of the Navy, and then by using the method of foundational data theory, the data were coded through three stages of open coding. Axial and selective coding was analyzed and the result was 8 general categories, which in the form of a paradigm model include causal conditions (building power at sea and confidence building at sea), axial category (maritime geopolitical position of Iran), conditions Background (naval knowledge and naval ability), intervening conditions (diplomacy capacities), strategy (development of oceanic navy) and consequence (strengthening of Iran's naval power) were introduced.

This analysis delves into the contentious issue of naming the Persian Gulf, asserting that the distinction between Arabian and Persian nomenclature extends beyond a simple dichotomy between two neighbouring Middle Eastern countries, Arabs and Persians. Instead, it represents a significant dispute that resonates throughout the entire Middle East. This study addresses two key questions: ‘Why is the Persian Gulf naming dispute considered a problem rather than a mere disagreement between the two sides of the Gulf?’ and ‘How can this problem be resolved?’ The research employs two qualitative methods: a descriptive analytical approach to answer the primary question and a policy-oriented approach to propose practical solutions for the secondary question. By going beyond analysis and contributing to policy formulation, the study seeks to inform public opinion and enable official stakeholders to effectively address the issue. The push to rename it the 'Arabian Gulf', led by Arabists, not only negatively impacts Arab-Iranian relations but also presents an unexpected opportunity for Israel to forge connections with the Arab world while advancing its de-Arabization agenda, particularly regarding Palestine. To address this problem, a novel solution is proposed, taking into account the historical, geographical, political, and strategic context of the issue. The solution advocates recognizing a distinct 'Arabian Gulf' in the Gulf of Aqaba, off the coast of Palestine, by reverting to its historical origin.

The term “free zone” refers to designated areas in which companies are taxed very lightly and it enhances global market presence by attracting new business and foreign investments. For over a century, governments around the world have sought to boost and exploit the economic power of their particular regions and zones by designating them as “special” or “free” economic zones. The trend of establishing such zones or areas have gained momentum in the last four or five decades with countries accounting for small businesses and millions of direct or indirect jobs. The Middle East, especially the countries in the Persian Gulf, for some and other reasons, have particularly embarked on such a trend. The current paper tries to highlight benefits and challenges faced by free trade zones in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, taking into account recent global financial crises.

The strategic map of Iran’s immediate neighborhood will change dramatically following the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1. Given the tremendous geo-strategic stakes involved, Iran has already begun to explore greater opportunities for economic and security cooperation in the region. This has implications for both India and Pakistan, which are tied to Iran strategically, but bitterly opposed to each other. Per the realist prescription of international relations, survival in an anarchic world requires all states to adopt the certain rational behavior, such as power maximization and balancing strategies. Depending to a large extent on their worldviews, all state leaders translate their perceptions of the locational advantages and vulnerabilities into geopolitical strategies. Iran is preparing itself for a wider and internationally legitimized regional role in which it can act pragmatically to enhance its reputation and take advantage of commercial opportunities wherever it finds them. The peoples of India and Iran, two ancient neighboring civilizations, have enjoyed close historical links through the ages. They had a common homeland and share a common linguistic and racial past. Over the several millennia, they interacted an enriched each other in the fields of language, religion, arts, food, ideologically, academically, and culturally and other traditions. Today the two countries enjoy warm, friendly relations and cooperate in a wide range of fields.

The global nuclear energy scene is changing rapidly. Some countries are phasing out nuclear technology. Some are in the nuclear renaissance, planning to promote the most ambitious new construction programme. Statemen make the proper decision in nuclear policy striking the best balance of domestic energy policies, energy-concerned foreign policies, and the dynamism of international relations. This study tries to analyse the political aspects of nuclear programmes in foreign policies and international relations in the Persian Gulf region. The study examines the reasons why oil & gas producer states want to acquire nuclear energy/weapons. It reviews the structural, psychological, and technological dimensions of nuclear politics in a neoclassical realism paradigm to find the balancing energy strategies. The research examines policy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran. Different states' power and different perceptions of the international system allow for explaining various role players in foreign policy and energy politics. The theoretical starting point of this thesis is Neoclassical Realism in the literature of international relations. This theory offers venues for the analysis of energy diplomacy. The theory concentrates on material power and underlines the importance of state domestic structure, as well as the statesmen’s perception of the international system. These aspects create the opportunity to explain the different positions of energy choices in foreign policies of different states.

Donald Scott Whitcomb was born on 27 April 1930. He was a revered scholar whose contributions to the field of Islamic Archaeology especially in the Persian Gulf region were immeasurable. He was research associated in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago since the beginning of 1981. Whitcomb then served as an Associate at this Institute, since 1990. His Master’s thesis dealt with the Proto-Elamite Period at Tall-i Ghazir, Iran despite the fact that his expertise was in Islamic Archaeology.