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Released: 28/08/2020

ISBN: 9781838595012
eISBN: 9781838596675

Format: Paperback/eBook

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Life After Oil

The Survival Predicament of the Gulf Arab States

by Mirza H. Alqassab

The Gulf Arab states became rich by accident. Their golden ticket was oil, which has become the lifeblood of their social and economic systems. But they are prone to become a ‘vanishing Eden’, if the oil curse endures further and economic transformation remains a mirage.

LIFE AFTER OIL highlights the economic vulnerability of the Gulf states after the oil party ends. The region depends heavily on imports financed by petrodollars. So, when demand for oil sinks and prices plummet, or when oil and gas reserves ultimately vanish, their survival will be extremely challenged.

LIFE AFTER OIL raises the alarm to the impending survival challenges to face the burgeoning Gulf societies in the post-oil era, and tackles the ultimate question: what will the future look like?

Book Reviews

I was lucky enough to get the chance to read this book before publication. This book will appeal to anyone with an academic or general interest with the Gulf Arab states and their oil wealth, how they accumulated it as well as what happens next. It should also appeal to people interested in the economies of the world and global economics and politics in general. The book asks a fundamental question that hasn't yet been asked elsewhere: what happens in the Gulf Arab states after the oil wealth runs out? The fact that nobody else seems brave enough to ask this question, at least not in this much detail, makes this book unique. It is written in a very accessible style, but with solid, factual foundations, which make it very readable, informative as well as thought-provoking.

by Rebecca Collins

About the Author

Mirza H. Alqassab

Mirza H. Alqassab is a Bahraini citizen. He has witnessed first-hand the Gulf socio-economic

transformation induced by oil.

After primary school (Grade 6), Alqassab worked full time for 13 years to support his family.

In 1969, he earned a high school diploma (Tawjihiya) with distinction, by studying on his own while working. The Bahrain Government awarded him a scholarship to study abroad.

In 1973, Alqassab received a BA degree in economics from the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon. He secured a Fulbright Fellowship from the US Department of State, and a scholarship from the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. In 1975, he obtained a MSc degree in economics from the University of Oregon.

Alqassab's 40-year professional career (1975-2015) covered the oil industry, money and banking, academic teaching, management consultancy and managing businesses; and spanned several countries: Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Malaysia, Singapore and Egypt.