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Studies of identity and belonging in Gulf monarchies tend to privilege tribal or religious affiliation, if not the protective role of the ruler as paterfamilias. I focus instead on the ubiquitous foreigner and explore ways in which s/he contributes to the definition of national community in contemporary gcc states. Building upon and moving beyond the scholarly literature on imported labor in the Gulf, I suggest that the different 'categories' of foreigners impact identity and the consolidation of a community of privilege, in keeping with the national project of ruling families. Furthermore, I argue that the 'European,' the non-gcc Arab, and the predominantly Asian (and increasingly African) laborer play similar, but also distinct roles in the delineation of national community: while they are differentially incorporated in ways that protect the 'nation' and appease the citizen-subject, varying degrees of marginality reflect Gulf society's perceptions or aspirations of the difference between itself and 'the other(s).'

For those scholars who have bemoaned the "commodity determinism" that has characterized much of the resource curse literature, there has been, in recent years, a new crop of studies that has sought to deepen and broaden the scope of inquiry and to highlight variations in features, processes, and outcomes in mineral-rich states. These studies have done so in two ways: first, by demonstrating, via careful empirical work, that despite the supposed uniformity, mineral-rich states in fact exhibit a variety of policy environments, institutional arrangements, and experiences; and second, by tracing the pathways whereby certain variables, and combinations of variables—related to such things as institutional beginnings, leadership decisions, and competing cleavage structures—contribute to particular outcomes, as opposed to merely identifying outcomes.

In writing my book, I had two principal and two secondary goals. My principal goals related to Algeria itself: first, to explain the country's peculiar trajectory with political stability and, eventually, its descent into violence, followed by its fascinating restabilization; second, to use the Algerian experience to contribute to the "rentier state" literature and show that oil has not been the "curse" that the "resource curse" folks suggest it to be. My secondary goals had to do with enriching and contextualizing the argument I was making about Algeria. I sought to do so in two ways: by offering "some preliminary comparisons" between Algeria's experience and that of other Middle Eastern oil-exporting states at times of economic shocks, and by cautiously extending the argument about variations in stability in Algeria to account for variations in stability in the four other countries. Four of the five empirical chapters of the book are devoted exclusively to Algeria; a single chapter—what I refer to as "a brief excursion into comparative analysis"—is devoted to Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia and the comparison with Algeria.

Am Beispiel Algerien überprüft der Beitrag verschiedene Thesen der Weltbank-Forscher Collier/Hoeffler zum Ausbruch, zur Fortdauer und Beendigung von Bürgerkriegen. Die Autorin findet mehrere Thesen nicht bestätigt: so liegt der Ort des Aufstandes außerhalb der reichen Erdölregion in der Sahara, die Auseinandersetzungen haben eher städtischen Charakter, die Religion spielt bei der Fortdauer der Gewalt nur eine marginale Rolle, die "ethnische Variable" hat bei der Aufrechterhaltung des Konflikts eine untergeordnete Bedeutung. Die Autorin rückt die Rolle des Erdöls beim Ausbruch und der Aufrechterhaltung des Konflikts in den Blick. Sie schließt, dass die Auseinandersetzungen auf niedrigem Niveau andauern, weil die Protagonisten von ihm enorm profitieren. (DÜI-Sbd)

Focusing on transboundary water issues in conflict settings, the linkages between environmental variables and security conditions are explored. The article is organized around a set of questions that has dominated debates about the notion of environmental security. The need for studies that are historically-informed and context-specific is stressed. A plea is made for a less narrowly focused research agenda and greater attention to the importance of political and institutional reform in the attenuation of environmental constraints.