Nuclear energy in uncertain times of the Persian gulf

The global nuclear energy scene is changing rapidly. Some countries are phasing out of nuclear technology. Some of the other countries are in the nuclear renaissance, planning to promote the most ambitious new nuclear construction programme. The statemen make the proper decision in nuclear policy striking the best balance of domestic energy policies, energy-concerned foreign policies, and the dynamism of international relations. This study tries to analyse the political aspects of nuclear programmes in foreign policies and international relations in the Persian Gulf region. This project examines the reasons why oil & gas producer states want to acquire nuclear energy/weapons. The research examines policymaking processes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran. Different states' power and different perceptions of the international system allow for explaining different role players in foreign policy and energy politics. The theoretical starting point of this thesis is the Neoclassical Realism in the literature of international relations. This theory is a prominent context as a set of key beliefs and assumptions that affects or guides method selection. It offers good avenues for the analysis of energy resources in foreign policy. The theory concentrates on material power and underlines the importance of state domestic structure, as well as statesmen’s perception of the international system. These aspects create the opportunity to explain the different positions of energy resources in foreign policies of different states. Empirically, the case-study findings have been synthesized into three key variables in which neoclassical realist linkages are particularly significant in cause and effect approach: the level of external vulnerability of the countries as the independent variable, the foreign policy induced by the distribution of power as the dependent variable, and ideological support for collective hegemony impacts on decision-makers as an intervening variable. Using three disparate neighbour cases in the Persian Gulf provides the lessons from which have formed the basis of comparative analysis.