In order to encounter the above discussed domestic threats, GCC has finally come up with an antiterrorism law that

also provoked a wave of strong response from various stakeholders. The justice
ministers of GCC have approved the recommendation for joint counter terrorism system. Moreover, it
was proposed that GCC countries must extradite criminals (News, 2015). At present, this law is still in
process and has not yet been announced. Moreover, GCC have launched a counterterrorism police force
training center, which is being regarded as a step below regional army. These trainings include police
training, special branch and intelligence training.
Coming towards the individual efforts of GCC countries to combat terrorism, these countries have
improvised their legislation and constitution to better address this issue. In order to combat these
increasing terrorist activities, GCC countries have passes several laws as a part of their constitution. One
major achievement in this regard was that of Saudi Arabia, where new law against terrorism was passed
by the Saudi Council of Ministers and was put into action in February 2014, that provides several
provisions to check and encounter terrorist activities going on in the country . Likewise, UAE also
recently passed a law against terrorism including 70 articles that a primarily aimed at combating the
terrorist activities and to prevent UAE residents from joining any extremist groups (Monitor, 2014).
Similarly Kuwait has also issued the Law 106/2013 by central bank that prohibits any form of financial
aid to the terrorist groups. Moreover, cabinet resolution 5/2014 was also passed to successfully implement
the UN resolutions that address the issue of terrorism and its funding (Times, 2015). In addition to these,
Qatar has also made counter terrorism law a part of its constitution in 2004, adding new articles to the
constitution that deal with terrorism. Likewise, Bahraini authorities also approved a counter terrorism
law in 2006 with the title Protecting Society from Terrorism Acts ((BCHR), 2014). However, Oman is
the only GCC country that has been reposted as a peaceful country as terrorist activities are at minimum.
According to a report by Institute for Economics and Peace, Oman & Qatar are one of the fortune
countries that where terrorism was missing throughout 2014 (JIMON K, 2015).

The above mentioned statistics reveal that despite their timely and adequate response to terrorism by GCC
states, the terrorist activities are thriving. The only possible reason is the failure of these states in
implementing the anti-terrorism law effectively. Merely passing a law by any committee or cabinet or
making it a part of constitution cannot serve the purpose; in order to better combat these activities, GCC
states must ensure that these laws are put into full action across all the states. Surprisingly, Oman and
Qatar, located in the same region as other GCC countries have been declared among the fortune countries
that missed terrorism in 2014, this clearly indicates that it is possible for the other GCC states to deter the
terrorist activities too. To make themselves free of this cancer eventually poisoning up every segment of
the state, GCC states must focus on effective implementation of anti terrorism laws as well as they must
imitate the counter terrorism policies that Oman & Qatar are following so as to be as peaceful as these
two countries are. Fig 1 shows the intensity of terrorism in different GCC countries.

Cultural Threats in GCC

Culture is the cumulative deposit of the arts and other manifestations such as ideas, customs, and social
behavior etc making countries unique in the way they do things. When it comes to GCC, as discussed
earlier the member countries of GCC have somewhat similar backgrounds owing to the fact that all
belong to same religion. It is a self evident fact that a major part of culture of a Muslim population is
usually derived directly from religious teachings. Hence, we can say that the cultural variation in GCC
countries in not of very high level. However, variations may exist and some exceptional cases may be
there as with UAE and Qatar.
It was recently reported that cultural identity of GCC was in danger due to vulnerability in the region. Al
Shamsi (2013) identified consumerism, globalization, and political conflict as main factors responsible
for this change. The region is adopting a fashion trend in almost all its fields from media to fashion, that
in not in accordance with the Arab culture and the Islamic ideology (Khamis, 2013).

Change in Mindsets
Over part few years there have been a shift of people in GCC from somewhat conservative to a more
liberal one. Although the justification for definitions of conservativeness and liberalism remain debatable,
yet this change in mindset of people has brought a jeopardization for the power structures in these
countries. These power structures driving the state machinery are enemies to the idea of liberal or semiliberal mindset (Binhuwaidin, 2015). Hence this has posed another great threat to the existing political
and power systems in GCC.
All these cultural threats are affecting the sustainable growth and development in GCC. According to first
Secretary General of GCC, Abdullah Bishara, two ways to tackle the cultural threat are; a social reform
that taps the concept of equal citizen ship and a vigilant population (Jazira, 2015). To some extent, this
change in mindset is due to the fact that a greater population of these states is getting urbanized and the
increasing youth population (discussed in the next section).
GCC- A Youthful Region
According to a report by the economic intelligence named GCC in 2020, most of the population in
GCC state is below 25 and another majority under 15s. Owing to the fact that another majority population
in under 15s, GCC states are expected to reflect somewhat similar trend of a higher population in 20s age
group in 2020. Fig 2 shows the population division graphically.
These changing cultural preferences in GCC states herald an upcoming social change that might provide a
sunny side to the extremist groups to take advantage of these cultural changes. The demographic, social
and cultural change and the large expatriate population pouring its cultural diversity into the cultural
stream of GCC countries have thrown up the challenges that, with time might become difficult to handle.
It is the need of the hour that these GCC states must address these issues adequately before it becomes
difficult to stem the tide.

Expert Threats in GCC

UAE and Qatar have widely varying population in terms of demographics, as almost 90% of the
population of these countries is reported to be non-citizen or foreign. Hence these two countries have a
population with different race, color, religion, nationality etc since they have a huge influx of
international workers and tourists. It is a matter of fact that people from countries bring different taste
with them, which is poured into to multi-cultural stream of UAEs culture, and hence as a result, this
difference is subsequently reflected in other areas of life too. Somewhat similar is the case with Qatar too.
Following figure shows the migrant and national population division in GCC countries.
In the light of these expatriate demographics, the challenge for GCC countries gets more severe.
However, according to a study published in Journal of Politics, published by University of Chicago there
is no correlation between immigration and terrorism. However, a correlation between immigration and
political was indicated by the study (Tahoor, 2016). Therefore, according to these research findings, there
might not be any link between immigration and terrorism, yet these states must carefully observe the
demographics of the incoming refugees and other migrants/ expatriates so as to prevent the terrorist
groups take advantage of the situation.
According to World Bank, the economic growth in the region is expected to stagnate with a GDP growth
of less than 3%. These states are experiencing plunging oil prices and a higher fiscal spending in contrast
to the fiscal earning. These states grew at a rate of 3.2% in 2015 (Segeren, 2015). Real GDP has declined
from 7.7% in 2011 to 3.9% in 2014. Figure 6 shows the declining GDP and the oil sector growth since
last few years.
Since the trade goods between GCC states and EU and China, Japan, India and the rest of Asia is done
through Bab el-Mandeb and the major oil export by these states pass through Horn of Africa, these
exports are prone to direct attacks by the terrorists. As indicated by Al-Qaeda, one of the major terrorist
groups operating in the region, they can interrupt the peaceful process of trade by closing Bab el-Mandeb.

Moreover, the possible alliance of Al-Qaeda with Somalias terrorist group Al-Shabaab will make the
ground realities severer. Such attacks or even the rumors of such attacks have an adverse effect on the
trading process. Since GCC states economies are heavily dependent on the oil export through Gulf of
Aden and the Arabian Sea, the oil supply may be major target for the terrorist groups (WEHREY, 2013).