Gulf Cooperation Council

The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (Arabic: مَجلِس التَّعَاوُن لِدُوَلِ الْخَلِيْجِ الْعَرَبِيَّة), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; Arabic: مجلس التعاون الخليجي), is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union and military alliance comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The council's main headquarters is located in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution. All current member states are monarchies, including three constitutional monarchies (Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain), two absolute monarchies (Saudi Arabia and Oman), and one federal monarchy (the United Arab Emirates, which is composed of seven member states, each of which is an absolute monarchy with its own emir). There have been discussions regarding the future membership of Jordan, Morocco, and Yemen. Iraq is the only Gulf Arab state that is not a GCC member. During the Arab Spring in 2012, Saudi Arabia proposed transforming the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) into a “Gulf Union.” The plan aimed to introduce tighter economic, political, and military coordination, a move considered to be intended to counterbalance Iranian influence in the region. The proposal received support from Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar. However, Oman raised objections to the plan. In 2014, Bahraini prime minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa said that current events in the region highlighted the importance of the proposal. The Peninsula Shield Force is the military arm of the GCC, formed in 1984. Since the Arab Spring, the GCC has a Security Pact whereby members coordinate efforts to repress their domestic political opposition.