The Unbridgeable Gulf: Applying Bennett’s Model of Analysis to the 2017 Gulf Crisis

Abstract

While the Gulf States have been involved in several conflicts since the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981, the recent crisis between Qatar and the self-proclaimed, Saudi-led ‘Quartet’ nations (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt) has been the most severe internal conflict among the Gulf States for decades. The aim of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of the nature, causes, and future of the intra-Gulf conflict through the lens of the nearly four-year blockade of Qatar. The paper appropriates a model of analysis developed by William Bennett in order to assess inter-state conflict in the Arabian Gulf region. Using Bennett’s model, this paper explains how the blockade of Qatar is a product of Saudi Arabia’s hegemonic ambitions. As Bennett’s model argues that political conflicts result from the perpetual imbalance of supply and demand of resources, thus proving that political conflicts are insoluble, regional hegemony is identified as the defining political resource perpetuating conflict between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. As the Al-Ula agreement signed in January 2021 did not fully resolve the roots of this fight for hegemony, this is only a temporary solution to the conflict between Qatar and Saudi Arabia.