2008 Occasional Papers - AUK

Public Health Impacts of Iraq’s 1990 Invasion andOccupation of Kuwait: Phase I Summary of Epidemiologyand Risk Assessment, Harvard School of Public Health,June 29, 2005.Schacter, D. L. (2003). How the Mind Forgets and Remembers:The Seven Sins of Memory. London: Souvenir.Stoller, P. (1995). Embodying Colonial Memories: Spirit Possession,Power, and the Hauka in West Africa. New York and London:Routledge.Taussig, Michael. 1991. The nervous system. New York:Routledge. 1997 The magic of the state. New York: Routledge.Volkan, V. (1998). Bloodlines: From ethnic pride to ethnic terrorism.Boulder, CO: Westview Press.White, G. (2005). Emotive Institutions. In Companion to PsychologicalAnthropology: Modernity and psychocultural change, eds. ConerlyCasey and Robert Edgerton, 241-254. Malden, MA andLondon: Blackwell Publishers, Inc.A Complexity-informedBasis for Social and CulturalChange in the GulfDavid LevickIt can be argued that social and cultural change in anysociety is driven by three factors: resources, powerand identity. Because of the dynamic nature of theinterrelationship between these three factors, theprosperity of all civilizations and societies peaks andwanes. The current profile of the Gulf States has risenin the 20th Century with Western dependence on oil andcould wane when this dependence disappears. This can beexplained through the process of globalization that linksaccess and control of scarce and desired resources withpower and identity (Woog and Dimitrov, 2004).This first decade of the new millennium offers an opportunityfor the Gulf States to take stock of their position and tobe proactive in shaping and investing their current goodfortune in a new basis of power for coming decades.The current and prestigious social and cultural dynamicsof the Gulf States have been due to their access to andcontrol of significant oil reserves upon which much ofthe world depends.While it can be expected that this dependence will continuefor several decades – especially as China rises as a worldeconomic power – economic principles will see alternativesources of power become more viable, thus diminishingthe control the Gulf States have over oil production.What, then, will source the prosperity and wealth of theGulf States and allow them and their people to maintaintheir current identity and status? While still riding thewave of fossil-fuel prosperity, now is an opportune timefor these nations to identify and gain control of accessto the desires resources of the future and thus maintaintheir powerbase among the nations of the world and tomaintain or even enhance their current identity.Given current global debate and trends, the resourcesto be strongly desired by the world’s population in thefuture are likely to be those of water and renewableenergy sources. These two resources will act as ‘attractors’or oases around which nations of the world will clusterfor access. Those who control such sources of energy andwater – or perhaps the technology to harness them – willachieve the power to develop or maintain identities ofhigh status and privilege.23