Evolution of Gulf politics- a short essay

From a historic perspective, what is it that helped the evolution of the Gulf politics? Is it religion, Arab nationalism, cultural diversity or seafaring and business?

Certainly all of those factors influenced the evolution of Gulf politics as well as geography and external forces. Perhaps singling out one aspect as more influential than the others is not possible. I will briefly discuss some of the factors that contribute to the evolution in the region.

Historically, the Persian Gulf area, and Persia specifically, was the center of the ancient world: economically, governmentally, linguistically, culturally and religiously. Perhaps not so ancient, but historically speaking, more recent events, in the last hundred years or so, have influenced modern politics.

Of the several law codes surviving from the ancient Middle East, the Code of Hammurabi, the sixth king of the Amorite Dynasty of Old Babylon, set the backdrop for ancient and modern religion, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Analysis of the Code reveals common threads that relate to modern politics in the Gulf. For instance, men had more rights and privileges than women did.

Economically and governmentally speaking, the Persian Empire, depending on what dynasty you look at, extended from India to Greece, from the Baltic to the Arabian Peninsula. It paved the way for a common type of government and economy and language, Elamite and later Persian. Despite the diversity of the Empire, with its nomadic tribes of Aryans and Persian Chieftains, Sheikhs and simple farmers, it was a cohesive nation with definite boundaries united with national pride. Of interest is that most Islamic fundamentalists believe that the idea of a “nation” with boundaries is a western idea, it has origins in the Middle East.

I believe that the historical precedence of Persian world domination and centrality in the world, leaves the modern nation of Iran and its surrounding neighbors with a legacy it hopes to revive.

Of course, the expansionism that Islam underwent during the time of Mohammad and the centuries thereafter, play a large part in the politics of today. The central idea that Islam is a world religion influences every Muslim. The drive to spread Islam throughout the world stretched the Muslim world deep into Asia. Modern Indonesia, the world’s most populace Islamic nation exists today due to the desire to spread Islam. The desire to spread Islam was not only for religious reasons. The Shariah (Islamic Law) provided the means for economic development and trade. Commerce became much more efficient when all parties involved followed the same laws and were held accountable under the same standard.

All of these ancient factors and more influence how modern Islamic countries in the Middle East conduct politics. Less anciently is the European conquests that led to British, French and Dutch (primarily) outposts and cultural centers in the region. The Persians especially after the Tobacco Revolution became especially outspoken against Western influences and distrusted all Western motives. Again, after WWII and the subsequent carving up of the territories of the Middle East, politics were influenced by outside powers.

In sum, everything since the beginning of time up to this point has had some influence on the politics of the Middle Eastern countries. Its evolution has been a long time in the making and continues to develop. It is important to note that most people in the region have a much different perspective on time than the average American. When we think of a long time ago, we think of 50 or a hundred or maybe 200 years ago. –They think in thousands of years. Their countries have been around WAY before ours, its hard to take orders from the new kid on the block, after all, we’ve only been around a little more than 200 years – the Persian Empire has its beginnings in 844 BC.