The Local Development Approach in the Globalization Era A Case Study: Persian Gulf Islands

The Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf are facing certain imbalances in space and physical, economic, social, and management structures. This has led to an increase in the vulnerability and poverty of these islands as well as their susceptibility to regional-global changes. One of the approaches that can be adopted by the national-regional and local decision makers and program developers of this region is to follow certain local-regional policies and programs in order to improve and empower its ethnic-cultural, economic, and social conditions. It is absolutely necessary to program for and exercise a comprehensive and strategic management over the local development of these islands with regard to their economic, social, cultural, physical, and environmental features and elements and, at the same time, devise and present some practical methods in order to revive and strengthen their structural and infrastructural conditions. On the other hand, the globalization and expansion of the international activities of the countries in the Persian Gulf region have imposed some time constraints on Iran’s efficient operations there. Accordingly, it is of prime importance to accelerate the empowerment of human and natural resources of these islands and their shorelines in order to promote their productivity and efficiency, reinforce their local and regional ties, and help them prosper in different respects. The writer’s studies indicate that, under the present conditions, change, openness to external influences, and local development planning are the most important approaches that can lead to a from below, decentralized, and endogenous development based on local empowerment. Therefore, in the present paper, with the purpose of analyzing the conditions of residential places in the Persian Gulf region, the writer presents a strategic plan for local development and offers a number of related strategic suggestions in the form of administrative/ management plans. Next, she generalizes the results of some of her own studies and those of other researchers )on local empowerment( to the islands of the Persian Gulf. She believes that, based on these results, it is possible to develop some plans for operationalizing the strategic and comprehensive document of local development for these islands.