From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Arab Gulf states are a group of six Arab countries that border the Persian Gulf. These countries are Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. These six countries form the members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

It is useful to view the Arab Gulf states as a group because they share similar economies and a similar culture.

Contents 1 Economy 2 Culture 3 Further reading 4 See also

The Arab Gulf states all have significant revenues from oil and gas and have considerably small local populations. This has raised their respective per capita incomes to higher than those of their neighbours. To meet the labour shortages they host large numbers of temporary non-citizen economic migrants from South Asia and South East Asia (mostly the Philippines and Indonesia). In the past there were also significant numbers of immigrants from Jordan (mostly of Palestinian origin) and Egypt.

In addition, pearl diving and the pearl industry was the main economic activity of many of these countries (particularly Bahrain and Kuwait). The pearling industry collapsed in the 1930s after the development of cultured pearl methods.

The Arab states of the Persian Gulf share a regional culture that is sometimes referred to as "khaleeji (gulf) culture". They all speak the Gulf dialect of Arabic and share similar music styles (sawt, fijiri, etc.), cuisine, dress, etc. Most people in the Persian Gulf states also trace their ancestry back to Bedouin origins.

All of the Arab Gulf states are hereditary monarchies with little or no political representation. Only Bahrain (Majlis al-Nuwab) and Kuwait (National Assembly) have legislatures with popularly elected members.

• J. E. Peterson (1998), The Arab Gulf States: Steps Toward Political Participation, ISBN 0-275-92881-0
• F. Gregory, III Gause (1994), Oil Monarchies: Domestic and Security Challenges in the Arab Gulf States, ISBN 0-87609-151-6
• Atif A. Kubursi (1984), Oil, Industrialization and Development in the Arab Gulf States, ISBN 0-7099-1566-7
• Gordon Robison (1996), Lonely Planet: Arab Gulf States, ISBN 0-86442-390-X

• Persian Gulf states
• Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf
• Iran-Arab relations for information on Iran's relations with Arab countries