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Combining scholarship on norms and trust in International Relations, this article puts forward the concept of entrusted norms as a novel means to understand certain dynamics of cooperation and conflict in international politics. Entrusted norms differ from non-entrusted norms both in the manner that they are policed and in the reaction to their infringement. In the first case, there are few formal hedging mechanisms taken against potential defection. In the second case, when broken, they result in a betrayal reaction where a return to the behavioral status quo is insufficient to return to the political status quo. We illustrate the analytical usefulness of entrusted norms through an examination of the established norms of diplomacy within the Gulf Cooperation Council, paying particular attention to interactions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the post-Arab Spring period. We argue that the perception of Qatar’s defection from an entrusted norm, the preservation of individual and collective dignity, contributed to the 2014 diplomatic rupture between these two states and set in motion a betrayal/attempted reconciliation cycle, where even Qatar’s attempts to move back to the behavioral status quo prior to the fallout have been insufficient to fully repair the relationship. In addition to providing a novel interpretation to this case, this paper highlights the need for further theoretical consideration of the severity and duration of punishment after norm transgression within social constructivism, reinforces the theoretical connection between social structures and emotions, and advocates for an expansion in the domains of trust that we study.

This chapter seeks to fulfill three main aims: (1) to provide a broad historical survey of this period of state formation in the Gulf, beginning roughly around the General Treaty of 1820; (2) to document and describe the variegated entries of the Arab states of the Gulf into the international system as independent states in the twentieth century; and (3) to trace the emergence of the independent states in the context of enduring domestic and international issues that these states have had to confront following the withdrawal of Britain from the Gulf in 1971. Keywords: Ottoman Empire; colonial; protectorate; statehood; British.

This article offers an overview of the literature on international democracy promotion in relation to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It draws on the criteria of process tracing to evaluate the mechanisms, processes and episodes of democratization associated with international democracy promotion in the region. It finds that the literature lacks a clear account of how international democracy promotion relates to conditions for democratization and could pay greater attention to the role of media in either supporting or counteracting democracy promotion activities which impact democratization processes in the region.

The main purpose of this article is to examine how Habermas’ account of the transformation of the public sphere is used in the study of political change in the Arab states of the Middle East. The study aims to demonstrate that while Habermas’ motif may provide several constructive pathways forward for the study of transformation in this regional context, its numerous shortcomings leave it susceptible to conceptual overstretch. With the aim of showing this, the article is divided into three sections. The first section shows how the concept has been applied. The second engages critically with the prominent account of the Arab public sphere by reflecting on (1) its methodological assumptions, (2) its empirical claims and (3) its own political role. The third section explores the shortcomings of Habermas’ account and how these present difficulties when making empirical claims about political action and transformation in the Arab states of the Middle East.