Political, Economic and Financial Country Risk : Springer : 9783319349756 : 3319349759 : 23 Aug 2016 : ?Decades go by and nothing happens; then weeks go by and decades happen?. This apt saying encapsulates the dramatic convulsions taking place across the Arab world that first erupted in 2011 in Tunisia and which rapidly spread to other countries. These events have affected the lives of ordinary citizens in many more ways than had been intended when the ?Arab Spring' broke out, with the endgame still not very clear as demonstrated in countries like Egypt, Syria and Libya. By comparison, with some exceptions, the six countries comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council have been relatively unaffected by the general turbulence and uncertainties lapping around them. However, geopolitical shifts involving global superpower rivalries, combined with revolutionary breakthroughs in the non-conventional hydrocarbon energy sector are threatening to challenge the importance of the Arabian Gulf as