The Geopolitical Role of Arabian Peninsula Monarchies in the 21st Century: Challenges and Prospects for Ukraine

It is argued that in the Middle Eastern region, the specifics of the manifestation of global trends are reflected in the new geopolitical role of the Arabian Peninsula monarchies at its main levels of implementation - within the Persian Gulf, the Arab and Islamic worlds, and globally. The place of the Arabian Peninsula monarchies in contemporary world politics is defined, and an assessment is given of the challenges and opportunities for Ukraine in cooperating with them. The application of a systemic approach enabled the authors to identify and describe the main stages of the transformation of the geopolitical role of the subregional countries in international relations, based on an analysis of their historical development and political evolution within the frameworks of the Ancient Middle Eastern system, the Arab Caliphate system, the Vienna system, the Versailles-Washington system, the Yalta-Potsdam system, and the modern international system. It is pointed out that in the 21st century, the center of economic and political gravity of the Arab world has shifted towards the Arabian Peninsula. The central role of the Arabian monarchies in the new configuration of geopolitical centers in the Arab world and the broader Middle Eastern region is becoming one of the main regional trends. These are new types of power centers that, due to technological breakthroughs, act as financial-investment, trade, transport-infrastructure, and information-telecommunication hubs not only at the regional but also at the global level. The geopolitical specificity of the Arabian monarchies is defined and a comparative analysis is provided. The key vectors of the foreign policy of the monarchies are determined in the context of global and regional changes. The current state of Ukraine’s relations with the Arabian monarchies is analyzed, as well as the political, economic, and security challenges for Ukraine in interacting with them, and the potential opportunities for expanding cooperation are summarized.