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Headline Series, No. 315

While oil is the primary reason for the U.S. presence, the Persian gulf states also figure in a number of other American foreign policy concerns, including the Arab-Israeli peace process, the growth of political Islam, terrorism, the conventional arms race and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

In this Headline Series Lawrence G. Potter takes the reader on a journey through this dangerous, highly volatile region, where tensions are sharp among closely connected countries and where powers vie for its highly valued resources.

But, as Potter also reminds us, the Gulf--with its bleak coasts, torrid winds and pitiless sunshine--is also home to disparate groups of people, all with their own concerns and interests. "The Gulf is not oil. The Gulf is its people and its land," says Kuwaiti historian Muhammad Rumaihi. But to survive, Potter concludes, these various peoples, with their age-old rivalries and sometimes bitter feuds, must learn to work together, and their leaders, often given to authoritarian excesses, must learn to share power.

Potter also describes in detail the history of the Persian Gulf, an important trade route connecting the Middle East to Africa, India and China. He shows the origins of its great empires confronted each other there: British India, czarist Russia and Ottoman Turkey. He looks closely at the American role and what effect current tensions in the area may have on U.S. interests and future policymaking.

The Headline Series, published continuously since 1935, provides readers with concise, timely analysis of a specific region or issue in world affairs. These informative pocket-sized books are written by foreign affairs journalists, academics and other experts.

About the author…

LAWRENCE G. POTTER is deputy director of the Gulf/2000 Project and adjunct assistant professor of international affairs at Columbia University. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Columbia and served as senior editor at the Foreign Policy Association from 1984 to 1992. He specializes in Iranian history and U.S. policy toward the Middle East. He is coeditor with Gary Sick of The Persian Gulf at the Millennium: Essays in Politics, Economy, Security and Religion, published in September 1997.

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