Table of Contents

Editorial Note Silvia Colombo and Eman Ragab 1 Between Accommodation and Opportunism: Explaining the Growing Influence of Small Gulf States in the Middle East Ma ´te ´ Szalai 2. Status and Foreign Policy Change in Small States: Qatar’s Emergence in Perspective Babak Mohammadzadeh 3. Beyond Money and Diplomacy: Regional Policies of Saudi Arabia and UAE after the Arab Spring Eman Ragab 4. Foreign Policy Activism in Saudi Arabia and Oman. Diverging Narratives and Stances towards the Syrian and Yemeni Conflicts Silvia Colombo 5. The Evolution of Saudi Foreign Policy and the Role of Decision-making Processes and Actors Umer Karim 6. Iran, the GCC and the Implications of the Nuclear Deal: Rivalry versus Engagement Riham Bahi 7. US-Arab Gulf Relations amidst Regional and Global Changes Dania Koleilat Khatib 8. Russia as a Gravity Pole of the GCC’s New Foreign Policy Pragmatism Alexander Shumilin and Inna Shumilina

About the Author

Eman Ragab is Senior Researcher at al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Egypt.


Silvia Colombo is Senior Fellow at Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Italy.