When borders do matter: international migration and identity - Provisional guests - Guest workers in the oil kingdoms

7 important questions on When borders do matter: international migration and identity - Provisional guests - Guest workers in the oil kingdoms

What new areas of the globe were migration points?

  • The pace of industrialization in Asia quickened, while in the oil-producing kingdoms of the Arabian peninsula massive development projects were undertaken.
  • Both areas of the globe became new destination points for contract laborers.

How did Europe differ from the Arabs in terms of migration?

  • Western policies evolved over two decades, resulting in the transformation of the same democracies into truly multicultural societies, countries where religious freedoms and cultural distinctions were permitted.
  • Nothing so generous occurred in the oil-producing states of the Middle East, even when migrants shared the faith tradition of their hosts.
  • While the Western receiving countries generally softened their residency policies under pressure from employers and civil rights activists in the 1960s, no such movement emerged in the sparsely populated Gulf states.

How did the Arabs go about civil rights?

  • The issue of civil rights, so loudly contested on behalf of guest workers in Europe during the 1960s, was barely audible in the autocratic oil kingdoms.
  • Most of this region was still under indirect Western control at the end of World War II, and prior to the 1970s little economic development was undertaken.
  • Levels of education remained low, and women were largely excluded from the workplace.
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What change occurred in 1973?

  • The economic landscape of the region changed dramatically after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and the OPEC-inspired spike in the world oil prices.
  • The wealthiest of the oil kingdoms - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates - possessed neither the manpower nor the skill levels needed to transform windfall profits into meaningful improvements in infrastructure.
  • As a result, they were obliged to turn to skilled and unskilled guest workers from overseas in order to complete a bewildering range of internal developmental projects.

How did Arabs change their workforce?

Semiskilled and unskilled men and women from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea were admitted in large numbers, with women playing a significant role in the nursing and domestic servant sectors.

How did the Arabs make guest workers so efficient?

The commodification of guest workers reached unprecedented levels of efficiency in the Arab oil kingdoms during the 1970s and 1980s.
  • No one was allowed entry without a specific and preapproved work contract, and most permits expired after one or two years.
  • Housing and health-care arrangements for the worker were outlined in the initial agreement, and personal conduct was strictly regulated.
  • Dependants were prohibited from entry, and the kingdoms refused to accept any requests for asylum or citizenship. 

How is the relationship between Arabs and guest workers characterized? What did the UN do about this?

  • Unlike any other receiving area in the world, the Arab oil kingdoms were able to maximize the economic potential of guest workers while denying them any basic social, economic, or political rights.
  • The UN's International Labour Organization worked to improve living conditions and wages for the millions of low-skilled workers in the Gulf States, and by 32 million international migrants in the region had achieved some successes.

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