Abstract

Since the 1960s many democracies and prosperous authoritarian states have abolished national military service but in recent years that trend has been reversed in several European states — owing primarily to the changing security environment — and, more surprisingly, in Arabia. Three Gulf Cooperation Council states, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates recently introduced conscription for their armed forces. Although this development may be explained in part by emerging external security challenges, this paper argues that the primary explanatory factors are intraneous: socioeconomic reasons, military-strategic motives, and political considerations. The article contends that the most important objective of the Gulf governments that introduced conscription is nation-building, that is, to deepen the relationship between citizens and the state.