Transnational Capitalism and the Middle East: Understanding the Transnational Elites of the Gulf Cooperation Council
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 5-6-2016 Transnational Capitalism and the Middle East: Understanding the Transnational Elites of the Gulf Cooperation Council Seyed Ahmad Mirtaheri Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC000717 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Comparative Politics Commons, International Relations Commons, Political Economy Commons, and the Regional Economics Commons Recommended Citation Mirtaheri, Seyed Ahmad, "Transnational Capitalism and the Middle East: Understanding the Transnational Elites of the Gulf Cooperation Council" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2607. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2607 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida TRANSNATIONAL CAPITALISM AND THE MIDDLE EAST: UNDERSTANDING THE TRANSNATIONAL ELITES OF THE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in POLITICAL SCIENCE by Seyed Ahmad Mirtaheri 2016 To: Dean John Stack Green School of International and Public Affairs This dissertation, written by Seyed Ahmad Mirtaheri, and entitled "Transnational Capitalism and the Middle East: Understanding the Transnational Elites of the Gulf Cooperation Council", having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Mohiaddin Mesbahi _______________________________________ Jin (Julie) Zeng _______________________________________ Benjamin Smith _______________________________________ Ronald W. Cox, Major Professor Date of Defense: May 6, 2016 The dissertation of Seyed Ahmad Mirtaheri is approved. _______________________________________ Dean John Stack Green School of International and Public Affairs _______________________________________ Andrés G. Gil Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School Florida International University, 2016 ii © Copyright 2016 by Seyed Ahmad Mirtaheri All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION To Ronald W. Cox iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION TRANSNATIONAL CAPITALISM AND THE MIDDLE EAST: UNDERSTANDING THE TRANSNATIONAL ELITES OF THE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL by Seyed Ahmad Mirtaheri Florida International University, 2016 Miami, Florida Professor Ronald W. Cox, Major Professor In this dissertation, I argue that transnational elites within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been integrated within a Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC) economically, militarily and politically through relationships that transcend the boundaries of the nation-state. These relationships exist within the context of a global capitalist structure of accumulation that is dependent on the maintenance of a repressive state apparatus in the GCC. There have been few attempts to analyze the relationships that Middle Eastern political and economic elites have developed with global elite networks. This work fills an important gap in the scholarly literature by linking the political and economic power of the GCC elites to transnational capitalist class actors in the U.S. and Western Europe. The TCC is comprised of actors who derive their wealth and power from ownership of production or financial activities on a global scale. The embeddedness of GCC elites within the TCC came with the de-centralization of capital accumulation occurring from the 1970s through the present that has linked regional and local capitalists to the ownership activities of transnational capitalist firms. The GCC is an important case study for analyzing v the structure and consequences the current phase of globalization due to its relative importance in providing resources and financing for transnational globalization. Therefore this project contributes to our assessment of the role played by transnational elites in the GCC and the regional and global consequences of their power struggles based in part on a theoretical framework derived from Neo-Gramscianism. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................1 Transnational Elite ..........................................................................................................2 Overview .........................................................................................................................3 Literature Review and Theoretical Framework ..............................................................4 Methodology ...................................................................................................................9 Data and Sources ...........................................................................................................13 Case Study .....................................................................................................................13 Is GCC an Indigenous Institution? ................................................................................20 The Structure of the Dissertation ..................................................................................24 References .....................................................................................................................26 II. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF A TRANSNATIONAL ELITE IN THE GCC ....29 Introduction ...................................................................................................................29 The Historical Evolution ...............................................................................................30 The Emergence of a GCC Transnational Elite ..............................................................35 GCC Transnational Space .............................................................................................42 Sovereign Wealth Funds ...............................................................................................43 GCC Segmented Education System ..............................................................................46 Labor Market .................................................................................................................55 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................59 Appendix I .....................................................................................................................63 References .....................................................................................................................69 III. THE FRAMEWORK FOR CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE GCC TRANSNATIONAL ELITES AND THE TCC CONNECTIONS .................................72 Introduction ...................................................................................................................72 Nationalization of Oil and the Emergence of GCC Transnational Elites .....................74 Forces of Production .....................................................................................................83 Transnationalization of GCC States ..............................................................................86 The Financial Power of the GCC Elites ........................................................................98 The Historical Background of GCC Financialization ...................................................99 The Essence of the GCC’s Financial Power ...............................................................100 Small Financial Sector, But Important ........................................................................106 The GCC’s Role in Global Financial Institutions .......................................................111 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................118 Appendix II .................................................................................................................121 References ...................................................................................................................136 vii IV. MILITARIZATION OF GCC TRANSNATIONAL SPACE: CHARACTERISTICS AND IMPLICATIONS ..............................................................139 Introduction .................................................................................................................139 The Pattern of GCC Military Expenditure ..................................................................142 Militarization, Oil, and the Transformation of Elite Network in GCC .......................147 Militarization and Conflicts among Classes in the Persian Gulf ................................150 Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency: US Military Arms Sales, and GCC State Repression ...................................................................................................................152 GCC State Repression and Working Class .................................................................160