BIPP Leading Study of U.S. Gulf Interests

BIPP Leading Study of U.S. Gulf Interests

BY MICHAEL CINELLI
Rice News Staff
October 14, 1999

Identifying key factors underpinning the long-term ability of the United States to protect its interests in the Persian Gulf is the focus of a newly-formed study group co-sponsored by Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy (BIPP) and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York.

This is the first CFR study group to be both co-sponsored and video conferenced.

The first interactive session took place Oct. 13 during which participants in New York and Houston discussed the policy of dual containment, its security and economic implications and prospects for a change in policy.

The second video conference session between New York and Houston will originate from Rice’s Baker Institute.

The study group on U.S. security policy in the Persian Gulf will examine the increased U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf and how the domestic political concerns of the Gulf states have shaped and been shaped by this presence, said Edward Djerejian, director of the Baker Institute and chair of the CFR-BIPP project.

“The goal of this project is to answer two questions: How will fluid Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) domestic conditions, coupled with a continuing United States’ need to foster its interests and remain active in the Gulf, shape America’s options in the Persian Gulf during the early part of the next century?” Djerejian said. “And more immediately, can the United States continue its policy of dual containment given the dynamics of change among its GCC partners?”

A final study group report will be published next year.