High Spending on Military Arm Industries and Security in the Gulf Countries: An Analytical Study

High Spending on Military Arm Industries and Security in the Gulf Countries: An Analytical Study

Introduction and Thesis

Military stability in a country is crucial.   The factor helps a country to develop both internal and external factors like businesses and economic development as well as international relations.    For example, through the implementation of a stable military, a country supports various business investments and development within its horizons.  On the other hand, the issue of military capability in a country also affects political welfare in different positive ways.  This factor is supported by the fact that when the military power is robust, the government power is also unbreakable, and therefore, the political affairs like elections as well as governance are also made firm. Excellent military capability also leads to the improvement of social interaction within a country.   In most cases, the military officers ensure that the country is governed in order and peace. Therefore, instances of havoc and unrest are eliminated. This factor promotes social interactions among the citizens of the country. Additionally, the military also ensures that the social policies are adhered to by all the people within a country. Therefore this issue prevents the country from running into social conflicts, which leads to redundancy in the growth of a country as a whole.

According to Beckley (2010, p.46), there are different ways of assessing the military capability of a country.   One of the metrics of this assessment includes a country’s investment in weaponry acquirement.    There are different types of weapons that are dedicated to serving various security purposes within a state.   Some weapons are dedicated to working in the war field.  For example, there are motor vehicle machinery, as well as space jets and marine weaponry.    A powerful military country must ensure that it invests in acquiring modern and technological ammunition. It is good to note that the weapons also get obsolete over time; therefore, upgrade on the arms for any stable country is relevant.  Stability is also based on other resources that work in the background to monitor various factors within the boundaries and across the borders of a country through the use of specialized technology. For example, there are attack sensors which may help the military officers to predict any future attacks. Computer software is also categorized under this group.

Another metric for military stability within a country is the military officers’ numbers, training, and maintenance within the boundaries of the country (Tellis, 2004, p.138). Elaborately, a stable military must have enough officers who are well trained and maintained to ensure their effectiveness whenever there are attacks and security threats within the country and on the boundaries.  On the other hand, the officers must also be paid and maintained in the best way possible to ensure that they stay devoted and motivated to work for their country. Therefore, workplace wellbeing in the military center is mandatory for a powerful troop. Finally, the officers must receive continuous training on modern security concepts, which enables a country to protect its boundaries from internal and external attacks.

Based on the elaboration, the Gulf region has been classified as one of the areas that have made tremendous investments in their military as elaborated by SIPRI. This region involves countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.  Based on the insecurity measures within the region, the military power has been boosted to ensure that both internal and external threats are eliminated. The counties within these regions have been historically known to have spontaneous threats where millions of people have lost their lives and property destroyed.    The factors have, over time, led to an impact on the economic development of the countries.    The political wellbeing of the countries has also been affected by the traditional rivals who were internal and external (Biscop & Sassel, 2017, p.8).  To ensure that there is sanity in the countries’ management and development, the nations within this region has invested in their military in different ways. For example, in the year 2018, Saudi Arabia’s investment in the military sector was approximated to be 69.4 billion dollars (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2020).   The high investment of these countries makes the region much secure globally.  This paper, therefore, aims at elaborating on how security within the region has been boosted by the high investment.

Background information on military arm industries spending in the Gulf countries

The Gulf region has significantly invested in the ammunition compared to other regions across the globe. Notably, the countries within this region have prepared large budgets to purchase and manufacture various weapons and security resources that are dedicated to performing various responsibilities within the boundaries.    Since the year 2011 to 2018, the region has made a 63% improvement on military armor, which has been an improvement from the previous years. The weapons are either imported or manufactured within the countries. For example, Saudi Arabia is in the record of military weapons improvement. In the year 2018, it was noted that there were more than 4000 armored motor vehicles from various countries like Turkey, the United States, and Australia.  On the other hand, the country has also invested in the purchase of patrol boats and jets from Australia and Turkey in the year 2015 and 2018 (Wezeman & kuimova, 2019, p.6).   Another country within the region is the United Arab Emirates, which has been documented ads the largest armory importer across the globe by the year 2018. The country has secured a large percentage of its GDP to weapons.  There have been innumerable upgrades and importation of technological weapons like monitoring satellites and radar systems. The country has also been on the record for upgrading its armored war vehicles since the year 2018.  Below is an illustration of the financial spending of the Gulf countries in the military by the year 2018 as elaborated by SIPRI (2020)

In general, the countries within this region have made a significant dedication of their total GDP to various weaponry upgrades (Cordesman & Harrington, 2018, p.36).  Notably, the largest upgrade has been directed in monitoring and sensory system. The improvements have been a good movie to the security implementation and enhancement in the region. For example, using the radar system, the military is able to detect and predict any impending attacks and, therefore, combat it before it explodes.   On the other hand, the computerized armor helps the military officers to improve efficiency in strategizing on the security enhancement within the regions. For example, the systems help the officers to deploy enough officers in the region they note to have threats. This factor makes the whole region have a high and reliable security level.  The armored vehicles within the regions also help the officers within the Gulf to conduct patrols along the borders of their countries and, therefore, boosting security among the people within the areas (Cordesman & Harrington, 2018, p.16). Currently, there are numerous cases of security threats that have been combated by patrolling officers within the region.   The same case happens to the air and marine weaponry, which help the officers to keep patrol within the country. Through the weapons upgrade and acquirement, the region’s security has been made reliable. This factor makes the countries to enjoy the peace and concentrate on the issue that develops their economy.

Weaponry investment in the region, which has been documented to be sufficient globally, has helped the military to calm down various attacks that have been strategized and targeted to their individual countries.   In most cases, according to the study on the security states within the countries n the Gulf, some countries like Syria as well as Iraq are raked to be more prone to attacks. However, with the help of modern weapons, the military is able to keep security within the region.    This factor has, over time, improved the security robustness within the country where the military can face any type of attack and win effectively.

The military within the region has been faced by different militia groups’ attacks, which pose a threat to the security threats of various countries.  A good example of the militias is the Al-Qaeda group, which has currently been blamed for different criminal attacks within the Gulf (Gomes & Mikhael, 2018, p.2).  In fact, the groups, in collaboration with others, have been in possession of dangerous weapons.  This factor had made the terrorists retard security in different parts in the past ten years. However, after the governments within the region initiated the military investment, the officers were empowered to curb the insecurity threats within the entire gulf regions.  Notably, the officers can now respond to different attacks without fear of losing their lives as it was in the past few years.   The investment of the countries within the region on the weapons is one of the vital moves in maintaining security.

The region has also invested in manpower training and hiring. This factor is one of the key pillars of security development in the Gulf. Different countries within the region like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Syria have invested part of its financial sources to training and hiring new officers in the field.  Training, for example, in Iran as well as Saudi Arabia, is conducted regularly to ensure that the officers are briefed on various modern security tactics as well as policies (Gray, 2014, p.32).  It is through this process that ten Gulf security has been impacted positively as the officers have the technical and logical know-how and accountability.   The number of officers in the Gulf region has been boosted significantly in different areas, which are prone to insecurities and hence leading to security promotion.  Notably, the officers are deployed in different countries within the regions in various groups that are given specific responsibilities.  Based on their responsibilities, the officers are given a good compensation to the officers to keep them motivated in their fields. Ensure that Therefore, the investment in hiring and training officers within the region has been a boost to security.

Joint security arrangements between GCC countries

Joint security is another predominant issue between countries in the Gulf.  The GCC was formed to ensure that the Gulf community approach the issue of security collaboratively in order to curb the security threat predisposed by the Iranian Revolution back in the year 1981.  The council consisted of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, which bordered Iran and Iraq. The establishment of the union among these countries was initiated after the Shah fall in Iran, which posed a war eruption between Iran and Iraq.

To a study by According to Koch (2010, p.30), the main aim of the formation of GCC was to bring all the security resources together and ensure that the countries within the region are safe and are collaboratively matching towards the security on their borders. The GCC security integration measure led to a political and security policymaking process that gave guidelines to address the issue of insecurity.  Currently, the policies have strengthened security in the region. For example, when Yemen threatened to attack Saudi Arabia, the GCC countries elaborated that they would support any step the Saudi Arabian military would implement to ensure that its borders were safe (Koch 2010, p.32),)Each of the countries within the council is expected to play a role in enhancing security.

Another vitality of the GCC collaboration is that it helps to solve various problems and make a decision related to complex security issues.   The countries come together and discuss the issues with regard to various policies and outcomes, and therefore, the entire region benefits from a collaborative security strategy. According to the Faisal who was a Saudi Arabian foreign minister in the year 2004, the main aim was to use the council to incorporate all the stakeholders in various governments like the education, economic, social and cultural sectors and come up with a more robust and reasonable body which would boost security within Gulf. This factor has been prevalent today within the region, where all the countries consult each other before making security decisions. Additionally, the department contains the United States soldiers who boost security processes and planning within the Gulf.

This body is therefore categorized under a regional security organization where all the countries involve also share military resources like weapons as well as funds and training (Czulda, 2018,p.50).  The countries in GCC have been having a collaborative training of their officers to ensure that they have adequate international skills to cater for security in the region. This factor has ensured that it currently boosted the readiness if military officers within the region.

Reasons for high spending on military industries

The Gulf has been on the record for high military investments.  All the countries within the region have been venturing into the military industry due to various reasons.  Some of the main reasons beh9ng Gulf’s spending in the military industries include;

GCC countries and Iran contest:

According to Al Jabri (2017, p.3), the issue of Iran has brought tension among the gulf countries.  Iran started raising tension within the Gulf back in the year 1981, when the revolution was implemented in the country (Malley, 2019, p.2). Since the period, the Gulf countries have been avoiding collaboration with the Iranian government since they see it as a real threat to their security. Currently, the Iranian military revealed t their Nuclear weapons, which rose had gained the attention of the United States government. In fact, the two countries have been having disagreements sine the year 2013 when Iran revealed its Nuclear weapons.  This factor makes the countries within the Gulf belt to come together and strategize on how to boost their military resources due to the unpredictable situation of Iran. The countries within the region refer to Iran as opportunistic as it delivers weapons to countries like Syria, which have been having rivals for a very long time.  The antagonism between Iran and Saudi Arabia has also raised tension, and therefore, the GCC community has started spending in the military industry as a means to getting ready in case Iran decides to attack Saudi Arabia (Vakil, 2018, p.3).  Therefore, GCC has bought numerous weapons as well as technological patrolling systems and detectors.

Needs of overcoming small size in certain GCC countries:

The GCC is made up of some small countries.   The United Arab Emirates and Qatar are part of the small countries (Miller & Verhoeven, 2020, p.3).   The countries were formed in 1970 after various political dynamics in the Gulf.  Based on the fact that the countries are of small sizes compared to other countries within the regions, the GCC community has the notion that the countries would be the first victims of insecurity from the external environment.  This issue leads to the GCC countries investing in the military industry to help the countries prevent and deal with external attacks irrespective of their small sizes.  The investment of the small size GCC countries has been triggered by attempts to prevent their wealth, which is mainly comprised of Oil.  Based on the heavy spending of the countries’ wealth in the indifferent military industries, the issue of insecurity in the region has been reduced significantly.

The shift in defense policy- Yemen war:

Following the creation of the GCC community, which is integrated security enhancement collaboration, the defense policies within the Gulf region were impacted in the year 2003 (Kostiner, 2010, p.3). The community within the Gulf region initiated an integrated security framework whose aim was to back each other I times of threat. This issue was revealed during the Yemen war declaration with Saudi Arabia (Parveen, 2019, p.1). The GCC leaders, particularly from UAE, declared that they would support Saudi Arabia and protect them from any attack from Yemen (Nünlist, 2015, p.1).  This factor led to the process where the countries invested in the military industries at their capacities to entire they help Saudi Arabia from Yemen. Through this process, weapons, as well as strategies, were made ready for the tasks. The issue of policy change, therefore, influenced and boosted security in the entire Gulf region.

Discussion and analysis

The gulf region has tremendously boosted security within its boundaries to prevent both internal and external attacks compared to other countries globally.  Initially, the countries within this part of the globe were faced with high-security threats that affected their economic, social, education, and cultural aspects.  Following the high number of risks, there have been notable improvements in security measures, particularly in the military sector, since the year 1981, when GCC was formed (Cüneyt, 2013, p.34).   Analytically, the GCC community formation was the start of security measures implemented in the Gulf military investment.   This collaboration has helped many countries to have different military weapons and technologies whi9ch have boosted security in the region.  Were it not for the strategy by the countries in the area, various attacks by countries like Yemen as well as Iran or Iraq would be prevalent. Additionally, there would be innumerable cases of internal attacks. Since the 1980s, military spending by countries has been rising tremendously.

The countries have been noted to buy different weapons, training their troops as well as using technology in security matters. However, different countries have invested based on their GDP rates, where the military has been given a considerable share (Cordesman, 2015, p.8).  From the analysis of data collected by SPRI, Saudi Arabia has the largest military spending, which stands at 69.4 billion dollars compared to all the countries that make up the Gulf region.  In contrast, other countries have also made considerable spending on the sector.  It was also evident that some countries like Iran Yemen are posing security threats to the GCC community, and therefore, the factor triggers the GCC members to spend more on their military in attempts to prevent internal attacks (Talbot, 2016,106). Finally, from the data given by the SIPRI, military spending in the Gulf region is on the verge of increasing in the coming years due to technological, economic, and political dynamics within the countries.  The increased budgetary dedication to the military weaponry, training as well as the upgrade will help to boost security within the region to a higher level in the future.

Conclusion

Military spending in the Gulf is aimed at boosting the military power and stability within the context of the countries involved.  It was revealed that major investments in the region had been made I training the officers, technology as well as ammunition.  It was deduced that political tension, small size countries, Iran revolution, and Yemen war threats are the major triggers of high spending in the military by the Gulf countries.  However, this improvement has impacted the status of security within the region where the soldiers are able to combat and prevent various terrorist attacks in their contexts. Based on this elaboration, it was evident that the GCC community has boosted the effectiveness of all the military strategies set within the region.

References

Al Jabri, M. M. A.(2017). Gulf Security: Peninsula Shield Force and Iran.Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316666885_Gulf_Security_Peninsula_Shield_Force_and_Iran

Beckley, M.(2010).Economic Development and Military Effectiveness. Retrieved from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01402391003603581

Biscop, S., & Sassel, J. (2017). Military Factors in the MENA Region: Challenging Trends. The Middle East and North Africa Regional Architecture. Retrieved from: http://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/menara_wp_6.pdf

Cordesman, A., H & Harrington, N.(2018).The Arab Gulf States and Iran: Military Spending, Modernization, and the Shifting Military Balance. Retrieved from: https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/181212_Iran_GCC_Balance.Report.pdf

Cüneyt, Y. (2013). Gulf Security, NATO, and ICI: Two and a Half. 10.13140/RG.2.1.3960.7525.Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281408904_Gulf_Security_NATO_and_ICI_Two_and_a_Half

Koch, C.(2010).The GCC as a Regional Security Organization. Retrieved from: https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=ca542b43-1671-8fab-93f0-397e609e8919&groupId=252038

Kostiner, J. (2010). The GCC states and the security challenges of the twenty-first century. Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University. Retrieved from: https://besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/MSPS86.pdf

Miller, R., & Verhoeven, H. (2020). Overcoming smallness: Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and strategic realignment in the Gulf. International Politics, 57(1), 1-20. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41311-019-00180-0

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (2020).Saudi Arabia, armaments, and conflict in the Middle East. Retrieved from: https://www.sipri.org/commentary/topical-backgrounder/2018/saudi-arabia-armaments-and-conflict-middle-east

Tellis, A. J. (2004). Measuring national power in the postindustrial age (Vol. 1110). Rand Corporation.Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1110/MR1110.ch7.pdf

Vakil, S.(2018.). Iran and the GCC Hedging, Pragmatism and Opportunism. Retrieved from: https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/publications/research/2018-09-13-iran-gcc-vakil.pdf

Wezeman,P.D & kuimova, A.(2019). Military Spending and Arms Imports By Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. Retrieved from: https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2019-05/fs_1905_gulf_milex_and_arms_transfers.pdf

Gray, M. (2014). Global Security Watch—Saudi Arabia. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dxvFBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Global+Security+Watch%E2%80%94Saudi+Arabia&ots=OcantbIhah&sig=iYSjTA-OiXvaowu2SDtFMiaJ-BY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Global%20Security%20Watch%E2%80%94Saudi%20Arabia&f=false

Cordesman, A. H. (2015). Military Spending and Arms Sales in the Gulf. Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved from: https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/publication/150428_military_spending.pdf

Talbot, V. (2016). The Rising Gulf: The New Ambitions of the Gulf Monarchies. Edizioni Epoké. Retrieved from: https://www.ispionline.it/it/EBook/TheRisingGulf.pdf

Malley, R.(2019). Why the Middle East Is More Combustible Than Ever. Retrieved from: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2019-10-02/unwanted-wars

Nünlist, C. (2015). War in Yemen: Revolution and Saudi Intervention. Retrieved from: https://css.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/pdfs/CSSAnalyse175-EN.pdf

Parveen, A. (2019).The Yemen Conflict: Domestic and Regional Dynamics. WEST ASIA, 130.Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334119925_The_Yemen_Conflict_Domestic_and_Regional_Dynamics

Gomes, A. D. T. & Mikhael, M. M. (2018). Terror or Terrorism? Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Comparative Perspective. Brazilian Political Science Review, 12(1). Retrieved from: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/bpsr/v12n1/1981-3821-bpsr-12-1-e0002.pdf

Czulda, R. (2018). Defense Dilemmas of the GCC States–Threats and Military Build-Up. International Studies. Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal, 21(1), 47-67.