Title: Profile: What is the GCC? | Middle East Eye
Headings: Profile: What is the GCC?
Profile: What is the GCC?
The Gulf Cooperation Council is a political and economic alliance of six Gulf states
When and why was it founded?
Demographics
Where are we now?
Security and Intervention
External Influence and expansion
Economics

Content: Following decades of exceedingly close security ties with the US, in recent years the GCC has been striving to shore up its own defences, resulting in a massive jump in arms spending, which is projected to rise by 20 percent to $83bn by next year. External Influence and expansion
As the collection of the Arab World’s wealthiest states, the GCC has always tried to influence the region and take a lead in forums like the Arab League. Since the Arab Spring, however, clear moves have been made to expand the GCC net. In 2011, Morocco and Jordan applied to join the GCC. The proposed union would have seen the GCC transformed more from a regional organisation to one based on joint value systems of autocratic monarchies. For now, a full on union is on the backburner, although ample GCC money continues to flow to support infrastructure projects and security spending in these states. Yemen has also long lobbied to join the GCC, but the only time the grouping seemed to seriously consider allowing in its poorer, parliamentary neighbour was in 2011 when it tried to broker a peace deal and power transition in the country. Economics
The GCC’s vast energy reserves and subsequent wealth have always been a key bargaining chip with the outside world, and the grouping regularly uses these to co-opt varying internal pressure groups. Over the last decade, however, a rapid depletion of oil and gas reserves and big rises in populations for many GCC countries has seen the latter attempt to diversify away from energy into sectors such as tourism, construction and finance. These efforts have only been partially successful and certain GCC members were hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis.