Al-Marri, Fahad (2021) GCC sovereign wealth funds and their utility in foreign and security policy : comparative cases of Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar in periods of crisis. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This research examines the role of Gulf Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) in foreign and security policy and in doing so fills an important but neglected gap within the existing literature. The thesis contributes to our knowledge of SWFs by examining the role of Kuwait, Oman and Qatar’s SWF in three distinct foreign policy crises, whilst contextualising each SWF in terms of their investment patterns, strategic roles, stabilisation purposes and geopolitical orientation. By conducting elite interviews, with until now inaccessible elites, I have been able to collect important primary information that allows us to interpret SWFs actions in new ways. Namely, to confirm what has until now only been suspected, that actors within SWFs see themselves and their organisations operating within a geopolitical context and use their wealth as a means of achieving foreign and security policy. This is not only an important finding of this research, but moving forward, provides us with a lens through which to interpret SWFs actions.

By way of context, SWFs were pioneered in the Gulf by Kuwait just as the country gained independence from the UK. Since the turn of the millennium, this investment vehicle has since mushroomed- in size, because the price of oil and gas (the main economic outputs of the GCC) has increased dramatically, resulting in sizeable surpluses for their governments. Today, the six GCC countries account for at least 40% of global SWF assets and their importance as part of the global financial system was demonstrated during the 2007/08 financial crisis. Their investments in failing Western financial institutions and other ‘trophy’ projects caused questions to be asked regarding the true nature of their investment intensions. Accordingly, this research is timely, as it allows us to reflect on that moment of crisis and reinterpret SWFs actions. We live in the shadow of that period, and therefore this research helps shed new light on contemporary international politics.

This is all the more important, as SWFs actions have all too often lacked transparency in their operations, leading to academic investigations relying on secondary sources to project estimated values as well as their investment intentions. On the one hand, SWFs are seen as a rent-seeking vehicle to support governments when oil and gas revenues are insufficient to underpin their economies while, on the other hand, they are often seen as simply domestic political tools. This thesis breaks with that literature, by directly asking elites about their reasons for action, and revealing a much more geostrategic orientation than previously described within the literature. This was made possible by building a long-term trust with GCC elites - policymakers, practitioners and academics with first-hand accounts of the workings of these SWFs. Herein, this thesis provides new qualitative evidence to shed new light on important and contemporary issues, and this new knowledge underpins a novel perspective on the role of SWFs in global and regional politics.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance J Political Science > JQ Political institutions (Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific Area, etc.)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Sovereign wealth funds -- Kuwait, Sovereign wealth funds -- Oman, Sovereign wealth funds -- Qatar, National security -- Kuwait, National security -- Oman, National security -- Qatar, Kuwait -- Foreign relations, Oman -- Foreign relations, Qatar -- Foreign relations
Official Date:	August 2021
Dates:	Date Event August 2021 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Politics and International Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Hassan, Oz ; Page, Edward, 1968-
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	x, 321 leaves : colour illustrations, colour maps
Language:	eng

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