Governance, Human Rights, and the Case for Political Adaptation in the Gulf: Issues in the EU-GCC Political Dialogue

Abstract

The theme of good governance and human rights (GGHR) in the EU-GCC dialogue needs to be addressed in tandem with those of political and security cooperation on the wider Gulf and on the Palestine issue. It also should be two-way process, where principle is paired with cultural sensitivity. There are differences on GGHR questions across the GCC and within the different states themselves, but throughout, there is some local appetite for accountability and for a greater voice in the way the countries are run. This can only increase as the resources-demands equation shifts further: the projected expansion in hydrocarbons production will not fully compensate for the population explosion and costs of maintenance, hydrocarbon development, and welfare – thus undermining the ‘rentier’ social contract. Globalisation will only add to this, both by pushing for further economic reform and by bringing in new political ideas. The growing size and complexity of these societies also means that traditional channels for airing grievances, and traditional bases of legitimacy, are decreasingly able, by themselves, to assure popular acquiescence. Consequently, the case for gradual further political evolution inthe GCC is a practical necessity both for the EU and the GCC regimes.