After the Qatar Boycott, Can the GCC Come Together?

After the Qatar Boycott, Can the GCC Come Together?
Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council following their summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 10, 2019 (AP photo by Amr Nabil).

Saudi Arabia and three of its Gulf allies have agreed to end a three-and-a-half-year travel and trade blockade on neighboring Qatar. The deal was announced last week at a summit of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC. But the embargo has done lasting damage to the bloc, says Sanam Vakil, a Middle East expert at Chatham House, and “there’s a lot of work to be done” to address persistent divisions within the GCC countries.

Vakil joined WPR’s Elliot Waldman on the Trend Lines podcast this week to talk about how the Gulf states can move forward after years of acrimony.

Listen to the full interview with Sanam Vakil on the Trend Lines podcast:

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