Oil and Water

"Oil and Water are vital ingredients for world prosperity - even survival - but they create vast potential for regional and international conflict. The Persian Gulf, so rich in oil, so poor in water, has long been one such flashpoint with possible consequences in every continent. In this region, perhaps more than most, urgent thinking must be done to avoid the potentially catastrophic global effects a regional conflict would entail - not just on a political-security level, but for worldwide oil and water resources. Bjorn Moller's work, which includes contributions from some of the leading international relations scholars from the Gulf, the USA and Europe, analyses the political and security structure of the Gulf and sets out the dangers and fault-lines running through the region. It provides both a close theoretical analysis and a range of possible pragmatic solutions - of intense interest to international relations scholars and practitioners in diplomacy, politics and business. The Persian Gulf is a region that has been thousands of years in the making - its complex history, and the conflicting sense of regional identity of its constituent parts bearing testament to the great political and cultural movements that have played themselves out in this area. This book deals with the very notion of 'region', and identity, working their conclusions out in the particulars of Gulf politics. The region's specific cultural and political conflicts are not helped by massive global interest and rivalry concerning their affairs (both during the Cold War and now), nor by deep political and economic instability on a local level. Oil and Water sets out the bones of the 'security dilemma' in the region but more than mere historical analysis, it suggests answers based on the largely successful policies applied to the East-West conflict and the Cold War. This scholarly collection details both the all-important theoretical framework that forms the platform for all International Relations solutions, and very real, practical suggestions that may go some way towards dealing with the peculiar problems of the Persian Gulf - from religious discord to economic adventurism -issues that affect us all."--Bloomsbury Publishing.