Geopolitical Genetics of Persian Gulf Region: Measuring Intra-regional Convergence/Divergence Using SWOT Technique

Abstract

Countries are led by their geopolitical genome. If geopolitical genome creates a correlation between the goals pursued by the political players and geographical advantages of other countries, it will pave the way for international and regional cooperation. The Persian Gulf region, as a unit, is like a living creature with tissues, cells, a nucleus and a genome. For example, the islands in the Persian Gulf are like cells while the situation of military and civil groups on those islands constitutes the nucleus. The geopolitical genome, on the other hand, is the factor which determines strategic and geopolitical significance of an island in the minds of politicians. This paper aims to answer this question: “What kind of strategy will be able to activate geopolitical genes which give rise to convergence in the Persian Gulf?” It seems that a strategy based on recognizing geographical and human realities of the region as well as careful study of the geopolitical genome that affects the foreign policy of regional countries will be able to bring about the aforesaid activation.

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