Dilruba Zeynep Kalın AlAbab

Tribalism, bedouinism, and tribal politics are constantly a topic of interest in Gulf Studies. The persistence of publications revolving around the relationship between tribes and the state proves that such notions remain relevant and valid in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) political context. In their book, Tribalism and Political Power in the Gulf: State Building and National Identity in Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE, Courtney Freer and Alanoud al-Sharekh deal with tribes as modern and political units and explore how such terms are used, pointing to different meanings attached depending on the context. Therefore, they successfully highlight the dynamic and changing nature of the tribe, along with tribal values and customs, as adjusting and evolving elements in a political and social environment rather than having a single, stable definition. They selected Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE —GCC’s ‘super-rentier states’— as their case studies for a comparative approach, believing them to be the best examples of rentier state theory in the Gulf, given their similar circumstances.