The aim of this paper is to promote a better understanding of the complexity of decision making in the Gulf by acquiring a more insightful appreciation of how established and newly founded institutions contribute to the policy process.

The analysis and insights shared by the scholars and practitioners who have contributed to this paper help explain the institutional process of politics in the region.¹ At present, not much academic literature focuses upon the role played by institutions in decision making within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. There is a wealth of academic enquiry into the role of institutions in the developed world and regions of the developing world, but nothing that focuses on the GCC. Most academic studies on the GCC emphasize how tribal society, rentierism and patronage are at the core of decision making, but they tend to neglect the role of institutions. Academic studies have tended to stress the role played by elites, the tribe, majalis, the military, rentierism, the environment and external relations in shaping domestic and foreign-policy decisions. However, political, social, economic and cultural institutions also contribute to the wider policy making. There is both an academic and policy need for better understanding of how such institutions feed into decision making in GCC states.

METHODOLOGY

This paper is based on discussions from our workshop, "Building an Institutional Process of Socio-Politics in the Gulf," at the Sixth Gulf Research Meeting, University of Cambridge, Aug. 24-27, 2015. The discussions were informed by a series of papers that examined the roles played by institutions in GCC states. The paper also draws upon responses to the following survey questions conducted during the workshop:

1. In what ways are institutions and/or nonstate actors influencing policy decision making in the Gulf/your state?

2. Government decision making in the Gulf states is usually categorized in terms of vertical dependency (top-down). To what extent are institutions able to influence decision making processes either via bottom-up interactions or by having horizontal access to the traditional vertical dependency? How influential do you think institutions could become in shaping and informing policy in the future?

3. How would you describe contemporary civil society in the Gulf/your state? What form is it taking? How does contemporary civil society challenge the traditional viewpoint (as found in the academic literature) of civil society in the Gulf/your state?

4. In your opinion, which types of institutions are the most successful in the Gulf/your state? Why are they successful? In which fields do they operate? To what extent do they interact with other institutions and/or official government institutions?

5. To what extent are institutions increasing public participation in the Gulf/your state and/or have the ability to increase public participation in the Gulf/your state? How are they achieving this? In which fields? Is it possible to measure these achievements?

SETTING THE SCENE

The pace of political, economic and social development in the GCC states has outpaced academic enquiry. Most of the available literature attributes decision making in the Gulf to elite politics and bases state-society relations on rentierism. There is an academic and policy need for a better understanding of how these changes affect the increasingly complex decision-making processes within the Gulf. A focus on institutions can lend critical insight into how increasingly complex policy is both formulated and implemented. Very little academic research has been carried out on the role of institutional processes, mechanisms and institutions, especially from a comparative perspective, across the GCC. Furthermore, with the collapse of so many weak institutions across the Middle East and the breakdown of states, there is growing interest in the roles that institutions play as a whole. In addition, philanthropy, civil society and social media are setting the agenda by presenting new ideas for policy direction,² which arguably creates upward pressure on the traditional top-down approach by government policy makers.³

The political, social and economic environment in the GCC has undergone significant change over the past decade, while the social contract between state and society is under serious review. In fact, economic institutions are gaining salience in the GCC owing to a combination of factors, including fluctuating oil prices, a drive for economic diversification and rising demographic pressures.⁴

A combination of financial stress, demographic change, unrest elsewhere in the Middle East and the failure of the GCC states to diversity their economies away from hydrocarbons has given rise to the need for more effective institutions. The leadership in the GCC states, almost collectively, has reached a crossroads and come to realize that it faces a stark choice: diversify the economy, build institutions to underpin change, eliminate corruption, root out patronage and draw up a new social contract or continue business as usual and risk losing power. Whereas many institutions once served as vehicles for promoting the interests of individuals, tribes and social groups, there is growing evidence that they are now beginning to contribute to economic, political and social change. In the contemporary setting, it is important to distinguish between informal and formal institutions.