Since the 1970s, the security landscape of the Gulf has been shaped by a series of transformative events, including the Iranian Revolution, the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War, the US invasion of Iraq and shifting global energy dynamics. More recently, factors such as the rise of non-state actors, geopolitical rivalries, economic volatility, and the COVID-19 pandemic have further complicated the regional security calculus. These developments have profoundly influenced the threat perceptions and strategic priorities of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, reinforcing the region’s centrality in broader Middle Eastern security debates.

This chapter examines the evolution of Gulf security by engaging with classical debates, updating key conceptual frameworks, and categorising threats into external, internal, and ‘intermestic’ dimensions. By applying these analytical lenses, the chapter explores the most pressing contemporary security challenges facing the GCC, offering a comprehensive assessment of the shifting regional order and its implications for both policy-makers and scholars of security and regional studies.

This chapter discusses the evolution and future trajectory of environmental communication, emphasising its critical role in addressing global ecological crises. It highlights the transition of environmental communication from academic and activist circles to a crucial component of global sustainability dialogues. The chapter explores key themes such as interdisciplinary collaboration, inclusivity and the need for new environmental narratives that challenge outdated economic and consumption models. It underscores the importance of effective storytelling, combating misinformation and amplifying marginalised voices to foster a more equitable and sustainable future. By reflecting on major developments and identifying future research opportunities, this chapter aims to inspire a more compassionate and informed approach to environmental communication, ultimately contributing to global efforts in addressing environmental challenges. Additionally, it calls for the integration of innovative communication technologies and strategies to enhance public engagement and policy advocacy, ensuring that environmental issues remain at the forefront of global priorities.

The governance of politics, the economy and security has evolved in the Gulf States since independence. State formation describes the process by which states have grown in capacity and resources for the governance of different public policy areas: security, economic welfare and political representation. Theoretical approaches to state formation propose to look at war-making and resource mobilisation as drivers of this. However, war-making has in the Middle East often destroyed states, rather than helped build them. Moreover, rulers of the Gulf States have benefited from abundant revenues from oil and gas that have allowed them to govern without the need to mobilise domestic revenues. The specific governance model that has emerged is described as a rentier state bargain. Rulers are expected to ensure security, provide welfare and allow for representation of their citizens. This chapter describes the evolution of these processes in the Gulf States, including how certain societal groups have been central in state formation. The chapter also discusses expectations for a social contract beyond the rentier bargain.

This chapter examines the foreign policies of the Gulf states, including members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Iraq and Iran. It systematically evaluates three primary contextual dimensions that exert influence on the formulation of foreign policy within the Gulf region, namely the domestic, regional and international arenas. Furthermore, this chapter delves into the application of key international relations theories, including realism, neorealism, liberalism and constructivism, as frameworks for explaining the external behaviour of Gulf states. While realist and neorealist perspectives offer valuable insights into the Gulf states’ behaviour, particularly regarding threat perceptions and power dynamics, alternative theoretical paradigms offer different analyses that contribute to our understanding of Gulf politics. Since their inception, the Gulf states adopted diverse strategies aimed at ensuring their survival, including strategic hedging, omni-balancing and bandwagoning. Therefore, this chapter explains the evolution of Gulf states’ foreign policies, tracing their progress from the reliance on external powers, mainly the US, to having greater autonomy and confidence in the pursuit of their own interests.

This chapter discusses the intricate dynamics of environmental governance, emphasising the evolution from traditional top-down approaches to contemporary multi-actor networks. It begins with a historical overview of environmental policymaking over the past five decades, highlighting key milestones such as the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and subsequent treaties like the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. The chapter explores the roles of various actors in shaping environmental governance. It highlights the importance of equitable power distribution and social justice in environmental decision-making. Through examples from China, Brazil and Africa, the chapter illustrates the challenges and successes of implementing environmental governance in diverse contexts. The discussion extends to marine protected areas (MPAs) as an example of collaborative governance, emphasising the need for inclusive and participatory strategies. The chapter concludes by examining the role of local networks and social capital in promoting sustainable practices, reinforcing the interconnectedness of environmental governance and social structures.

The United States is the third most populous country in the world after the two demographic billionaires, India and China. In 2024, the population of the United States numbered 337 million inhabitants. When the first census was conducted in the United States in 1790, the population size of the country (as then defined geographically) was just above 3.9 million. In 234 years, from 1790 to 2024, the United States has increased tremendously in size. This chapter traces the patterns of growth of the United States from colonial times to the present; and it then examines some projections of the US population for the future.

This chapter explores the transformative impact of the digital sphere and artificial intelligence (AI) on environmental communication. The rise of digital platforms has significantly influenced how environmental issues are communicated, promoting awareness, fostering engagement and mobilising action. The first part of the chapter discusses the role of social media and influencers in shaping environmental discourses and collective identities. The second part examines the opportunities and challenges posed by AI, highlighting its potential to analyse large datasets and personalise engagement while also addressing issues pertaining to reliability and the spread of AI-enabled misinformation and fake news. The environmental costs associated with AI technologies, such as high energy and resource consumption, are also explored. The chapter underscores the dual nature of digital technologies, emphasising the need for critical engagement to ensure that technological innovations support environmental justice without exacerbating existing problems.

This chapter explores environmental communication in more detail, with a particular focus on communication and linguistics aspects. It argues that successful environmental communication is not simply about transmitting facts but about fostering understanding, engagement and enabling informed decisions that can drive positive change. The chapter starts by discussing the communication process, highlighting key components and the roles of various constituent parts in this process. It also takes a critical look at traditional communication models and their applicability in an era of extensive digital communication. The chapter then discusses the significance of metaphors and frames in shaping perceptions and fostering understanding of complex environmental issues. Within this context, cultural differences in metaphor use are also examined. This is followed by a discussion of the concepts of symbolic competence and symbolic capital and their relevance to decoding and creating effective environmental messages. The final section introduces the role of visual elements, such as infographics and data visualisation, and their impact on audience perception and engagement.

A population policy is a deliberately constructed program of a government to influence directly or indirectly demographic change. The program is put into place to ensure that goals of the policy are attained. A policy is generally intended to either reduce or increase population levels. Not everyone agrees on the true meaning of a population policy. Here are three questions pointing to possible issues of disagreement: (1) Must there be an explicit statement by a government that a policy exists? (2) Does there have to be a planned course of action or program? (3) Must the goals of a policy be demographic, or may they be social and economic? There are often no “correct” answers. The concern in this chapter is not to make judgments about objectives. Its purpose is to address the question: In what ways may a government influence levels of fertility, mortality, and migration?

This chapter outlines the evolution, scope and transformative potential of environmental communication, framing it as a praxis-oriented field rooted in crisis response and care-driven action. It traces the emergence of environmental communication from its activist origins in the 1970s to its present interdisciplinary form. The chapter highlights the sociopolitical and cultural dimensions of environmental struggles, particularly in the Global South. It introduces environmental communication as both a ‘crisis discipline’, committed to documenting unsustainable practices, and a ‘care discipline’, fostering relational ethics and biodiversity awareness. The dual functions of environmental messages – pragmatic (informative and persuasive) and constitutive (identity and meaning-shaping) – are explained through examples ranging from mass media portrayals to grassroots interventions. Emphasising intercultural mediation, the chapter advocates for inclusive dialogues that account for power hierarchies, postcolonial legacies and cultural frames. Ultimately, the text proposes environmental communication as a transformative tool for bridging divides and catalysing collective environmental responsibility, with a particular focus on justice, empathy and critical engagement across global contexts.

Although oil is not the only potential source of rent from the rest of the world for contemporary states, it is by far the most important. The increase in oil prices post 1970 facilitated the emergence of rentier states, especially, but not exclusively, in the Gulf region, hugely increasing the volume of the rent at their disposal. This allowed consolidation of political regimes which otherwise would probably not have survived, and gave power holders an unprecedented degree of autonomy from their societies. The chapter then explains how the rentier state needs to engage in large-scale public expenditure to circulate the rent domestically, nurture a private sector and promote economic development along a peculiar model of its own. In order to counter the phenomenon known in economics as the ‘Dutch Disease’, the Gulf states have opened their doors to massive temporary immigration of foreign workers, creating a very peculiar labour market structure which has ended up damaging the opportunities for productive employment available to nationals, especially the young. This model must now be overcome, but while some states are in a position to remain rentiers, thanks to large accumulation of financial resources, others face an eroding oil rent and the need to increase domestic taxation to pay for their ever-increasing expenditure. Increasing reliance on taxation of nationals is inevitably coupled with increasing demand for accountability, which will eventually need to be accommodated through political reform.