This book, first published in 1988, compiles selected contributions to a symposium on ‘The Gulf and the Arab World’ held by the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies at Exeter University, UK, in July 1986. The historical perspective was considered to be a prerequisite for focusing on modern developments, and two chapters are devoted to the coming of both the Arabs and Islam to the Gulf, and a further chapter examines the role of the Ottoman Empire in the region. The remaining chapters concentrate on recent interaction under the broad headings of political and socio-political affairs, demographic aspects, financial interchange and questions of security. A large part of the book is devoted to detailed analysis of the main factor in Arab Gulf/Arab world relations: the huge flow, in one direction, of Arab migratory manpower and, in the reverse direction, of Gulf financing and workers’ remittances.
