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This paper makes use of interdependence theory to analyse the historical development of the economic relations between the GCC countries and the United States. The focus will be on oil and arms trade between the GCC countries and the United States. The results show that while the military and security dependence of the GCC countries on the United States remains relatively intact, the dependence of the United States on the natural resources of the GCC region has decreased. In light of this, the paper suggests that the historical interdependence between the GCC countries and the United States has recently evolved into a unilateral dependence and that the GCC countries' natural resources are directed towards Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the impacts of unprecedented falling oil prices and the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 on the stock markets of GCC countries - countries considered as natural resources-based rentier economies. To this end, the research uses daily data for 295 companies under the categories of services, industrial, and financial sectors in GCC countries from January 1, 2020, to February 23, 2021. The analysis was conducted over two phases. The first phase extended from January 1, 2020, to July 30, 2020, while the second phase extended from August 01, 2020, to February 23, 2021. The research utilised 18 random effect models in each phase to capture the impact of the oil price crisis and COVID-19 outbreak on each economic sector in each of the GCC countries. This study's findings reveal that the decline in oil prices and the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic were strong in the first phase, while this impact diminished in most economic sectors in the Gulf countries in the second phase. However, the GCC countries have not been impacted equally by the crisis of falling oil prices and the COVID-19 outbreak. The results show that the hardest-hit countries are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, respectively, while the least impacted countries are Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Furthermore, the sector-wise analysis results reveal that the industrial sector in Saudi Arabia is the sector most affected by the oil price crisis, and the financial sector in Saudi Arabia is the sector most impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak in the GCC countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the inequalities between national and non-national workers through class formation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. These inequalities are constructed over non-standardized salaries, work conditions, and the rights deprivations that arise from the kafala system due to demographic imbalances in the region. From this point of view, this paper's main argument is that inequalities exist between nationals and non-nationals in the labor market. At the same time, this paper argues that Gulf states have made some arrangements such as extending the kafala system and controlling salaried payments to eliminate labor market inequalities. The secondary data, including the participation of nationals and non-nationals in the labor market and their minimum and maximum salaries, have been used to present the inequalities in the labor market. This paper uses qualitative analysis and the interpretive technique to provide clear understanding. This paper's main finding is that although some strategies exist that have increased the rights of non-national workers in the Gulf countries, the salary and personal-rights inequalities in the labor market, as well as discrimination with respect to one's home country to still exist. In this way, the article's main objective is to make an essential contribution to the literature on the political economy of Gulf countries by presenting the current situation of nationals and non-nationals in GCC countries' labor markets following the government regulations that strengthen the labor rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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