Wow! eBook
Foreign Aid of Gulf States: Continuity and Change (ThirdWorlds)
Author(s): Mohammad Yaghi (Editor), Hanaa Almoaibed (Editor), Silvia Colombo (Editor)
- Publisher: Routledge
- Publication Date: September 29, 2025
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 180 pages
- ISBN-10: 1041114710
- ISBN-13: 9781041114710
Book Description
This book explores how Gulf States’ foreign aid strategies have transformed in the wake of 9/11 and the 2011 Arab uprisings. It traces the shift from a solidarity- based model to aid increasingly driven by political and military objectives, particularly in conflict zones like Yemen, Libya, and Syria. The book analyzes enduring traits and evolving trends in aid allocation, highlighting a growing emphasis on humanitarian assistance, transparency, and alignment with global governance norms. Yet, a persistent preference for bilateral aid raises questions about long- term impact and transparency.
The politicization of aid post- 2011 reveals how Gulf donors wield aid as a tool of geopolitical influence. Looking ahead, the book outlines a research agenda that examines the rebranding of Gulf aid, the implications of its militarization, the role of economic diversification, and the influence of shifting regional dynamics― such as Saudi– Iran relations and the Abraham Accords― on future strategies.
This book is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in international development, political science, Middle Eastern studies, and global governance.
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Mohammad Yaghi is an independent researcher with expertise in Middle East politics and the internal and foreign relations of the Gulf States. His research covers Palestinian political institutions, social and Islamic movements, sectarianism in Arab media, and the politics of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. Currently, his work focuses on social transformation in Saudi Arabia, the evolving role of women in the Gulf workforce, Gulf States’ security, Saudi Arabia– China relations, and the ideological transformation of the Houthi movement. His work has been published in Middle East Law and Governance, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics and has contributed to outlets like Al Jazeera Center for Studies, Carnegie. He writes a weekly column for Al-Ayyam newspaper.
Hanaa Almoaibed is a scholar specializing in education, youth and women’s issues in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, with research interests in work, education/ skills, and sustainability. She is Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Research Fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. Additionally, she serves as a council member for the British Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. She is active in the think- tank sector as Consulting Fellow at Chatham House in London and Non- resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. She holds a PhD from University College London (UCL) and an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Silvia Colombo is Researcher and Faculty Advisor in the Research Division of the NATO Defense College (NDC) in Rome. She is also Associate Fellow at the International Affairs Institute (IAI), where she formerly led the Mediterranean and Middle East Programme. Her research focuses on contemporary politics in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), EU and US foreign policies, and NATO’s role in the region’s conflicts. Her work also examines relations between the EU and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Her recent publications include ‘Morocco’s Domestic Crisis of (Derailed) Democratisation’ (The Journal of North African Studies, 2023), ‘The Unrealized Potential of Cooperative Security in the Arab Gulf’ (NDC Policy Brief, 2022), and Political and Institutional Transition in North Africa: Egypt and Tunisia in Comparative Perspective (Routledge, 2018).
