2019 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The Political Economy of State Capitalism in the Arab Gulf States
| Project/Area Number |
19K12537
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| Research Institution | Waseda University |
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Principal Investigator |
Gray Matthew 早稲田大学, 国際学術院, 教授 (70791292)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | Persian Gulf states / political economy / state capitalism / politics / economic statecraft / rentierism |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Good progress has been made with the main components of the desk research stage of the project:
- Collation and critical examination of the main secondary sources related to new state capitalism, leading to a successful proof-of-concept for the project and a refinement of the sub-arguments in the working hypothesis.
- Through media materials (including the Gulf States Newsletter, funded by this grant, and other media sources), some initial data/evidence has been collected, including potential case studies that could be developed by future fieldwork.
- On a visit to Qatar in February 2020 (not funded by this grant), some meetings were held (in effect as preliminary interviews) to test the working hypothesis of the research and to build connections for more detailed fieldwork in the future.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
4: Progress in research has been delayed.
Reason
While the progress in 2019-20 was reasonably good (overall, "progressing rather smoothly"), as of February 2020 there has been only limited progress as a result of the coronavirus sars-cov-2/Covid-19 pandemic, and this is likely to prove a problem through the 2020-21 year. Apart from a little more desk research, the next stages of the research had been to (1) attend at least one, preferably two, academic conferences to test the working hypothesis of the project, and then (2) undertake field research in the Gulf region, this being essential to the ability to make a unique and well-founded argument in the research.
It seems unlikely that conference attendance will be possible in 2020: with the travel restrictions currently in place, conference speech proposals have not been sent for any conferences in 2020. This would mean that the earliest potential date for fieldwork is December-January 2020-21, otherwise and more likely, fieldwork may be delayed into 2021.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Plans for 2020 have been completely changed as a result of the coronavirus sars-cov-2/Covid-19 pandemic.
For the time being, work on the project is being limited to further secondary/desk research, and even this has been impacted by the changed schedules and obligations created by the need to teach online in Spring 2020 semester (and possibly Fall 2020 semester too).
If international travel becomes possible and reasonably safe in 2021, there is the scope to attend conferences and, especially, to undertake some field research, the latter either in winter 2020-21 or, more likely, spring 2021. This will push the project back approximately 9-12 months from the plan laid out in the original application.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The plan for the coming year - conditional on the current pandemic easing to the point where international travel becomes permitted and safe again - is as follows and as outlined in the original application.
First, attend at least one, possibly two if relevant, international conference to test the working hypothesis of the research and to seek feedback from professional colleagues.
Second, to undertake fieldwork in the Gulf states, to gather data not available through secondary sources, as well as case studies and insights from relevant policy, business, media, and other people in the region.
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