Geo-economic implications of Inter-regional ties between the Arab countries of Persian Gulf and Central Asia in the field of strategic infrastructure

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Candidate of International Relations, University of Guilan

2 Associate professor, Department of Political Sciemce, University of Guilan, Rasht

Abstract

The Arab countries of Persian Gulf have begun a process of participating in the development of Central Asia's strategic infrastructure since the second decade of the 21st century. This partnership has taken place in the field of development of energy infrastructure and strengthening of logistics and transit initiatives. However, due to the lack of coherence and stability in participation and the lack of coherence in the convergent approaches internally (with Arab countries) and externally (with other active international actors), how this process will affect has not been clear. This paper seeks to answer the question of how the participation of the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf with the Central Asian states in the field of strategic infrastructure can affect the geo-economic position of Iran, as an inter-regional bridge. The hypothetical answer to this question is based on the fact that this influence is significantly dependent on the regional dynamics of the Middle East. If these dynamics move towards more tensions between Iran and the Arabic countries of Persian Gulf, weakening of Iran's geo-economic position is expected; and in the case that the relations improves in a revival process, the promotion of geo-economic position of the Iran as a bridge country through the inter-regional ties between the Arab countries of Persian Gulf and Central Asia is expected. The paper seeks to prove the hypothesis by relying on the deductive strategy, applying the theoretical framework of inter-regionalism and using a descriptive-analytical method based on the analysis of scenarios and influential variables.

Keywords

References

 
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