Geopolitics of the Persian Gulf and the Past and Future Challenges (with an Emphasis on Regional Convergence)

Location, soil, water, natural resources, environmental conditions, and geographical space, which are among the objective and tangible elements comprising power, challenge governments and nations and prompt geopoliticians to provide new solutions to old problems. Here, the structure of international order has always promoted great competition among different countries and functioned as a playground for the realization of the demands and benefits of the governments which are familiar with the principles of the game in the field of international politics. However, since the gathering of opposite benefits sometimes leads to crisis, conflicts and wars appear to be common phenomena in the domain of international relationships. The conditions and changes in this domain and their effects on the relationships among the countries in the Persian Gulf region, the geopolitical and anthropological characteristics of the region, the colonialist interferences in the affairs of the countries there, and the like indicate that the geopolitics of the Persian Gulf has resulted in the development of the present dominating political structure. What makes today’s political atmosphere of the Persian Gulf different from that in the past is the development of some conflicts rooted in political imbalance and their transfer to areas outside this region. Nevertheless, in the Middle East and in the Persian Gulf, there is a kind of backwardness dominating the existing relationships. The outcomes of this backwardness clearly manifest the presence of the elements of the period of cold war and even new colonialism. In this regard, reference can be made to the rule of military powers and dominance of authoritarianism in the region. Hence, given the geopolitical role of the Persian Gulf, the existence of large oil and gas reserves in the region, and the presence of the true face of colonial powers there, the countries of the region are moving towards a kind of growth and dynamism in order to secure their national benefits, to a large extent, and promote regionalism, to a smaller extent. The present study was conducted following a descriptive-analytic method. In doing so, the author benefited from library sources, internet websites, and some related tables and figures in order to collect the required data. Here, the author aims to provide an appropriate response to the question of whether the geopolitical features of the Persian Gulf have resulted in the backwardness of the coastal countries there. The findings indicate that the political behavior of these countries and the interactions among them, which are influenced by the geography and geopolitics of this waterway, have played significant roles in the divergence of interests in the region. The main purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical-analytic framework in order to explain the ways the geopolitics of the Persian Gulf affects the relationships between the countries on its coasts.