Opinion: Has US war on Iran killed the 'Gulf moment'?

In 2018, Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdulla published a book titled The Gulf Moment, arguing that states such as the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia had eclipsed countries such as Egypt and Iraq - the historical core of the region - and were now projecting political, economic and cultural power on the world stage. 

Central to this transformation, he argued, was the deep integration of Gulf states within the global economy. 

“The Gulf’s moment is unprecedented in Arab history,” he wrote, noting that it “coincided with the coming of a new defining moment in world history, namely globalisation”.

Abdulla correctly pointed out that the integration of Gulf states within the global economy has been central to their success, as their development is deeply tied to international flows of energy, commodities, capital and labour. 

Read more: Has US war on Iran killed the 'Gulf moment'? Opinion by Christian Henderson