Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 10/2013

GCC-Maghreb Relations in a Changing Regional Order

Carolyn Barnett

August 2013

Center for Strategic and International Studies

Abstract

While rulers in the Maghreb and the Gulf have long engaged one another, until recently neither region held essential strategic importance for the other. Now, several GCC countries are seeking greater influence around the region, including in the Maghreb. Gulf countries have demonstrated their growing interest in the Maghreb through aid and investment, though aid disbursements have been slow to materialize. Tunisia, Libya, Morocco and Algeria all have delicate relationships with the Gulf that intersect with domestic politics, debates over Islam and authority, concerns about instability, the need for stronger economic growth, and aversion to foreign interference. Promoting constructive GCC-Maghreb relations will be most feasible on the economic front. Successful management of enduring tensions will not ensure political and economic stability, but it will make that stability much more likely.