This week, you will dig deeper into your selected dissertation topic by outlining specific details of your
Proposal. This assignment will serve as a draft for Section 1 of the Proposal and give you an
opportunity to get valuable feedback from your Instructor.
Using Section 1 of the Proposal Proforma, refine your topic and outline the following details about
your intended research:
�Background
�Aim
�Draft research questions/hypotheses
�Draft research objectives
�Feasibility of the study
PROPOSAL 2
Proposal
Background
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprises of the oil-producing and exporting
Arab states situated in the Gulf region. The members of GCC include United Arab Emirates,
Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. These Gulf Cooperation Council member
states hold nearly twenty-three percent and fifty percent of the world’s gas and oil reserves
respectively (Toksoz 2012). Since the Gulf Cooperation Council is the world’s biggest
producer of oil at the moment, the member countries are by and large seen as being
disinclined and unwilling to be fully committed to major talks regarding climate change
(Peterson 2011).
It is worth mentioning that the high consumption of oil and gas in conjunction with
the ever-increasing population are driving the need for oil and gas energies to adequately
satisfy their local demand as well as industrial usage. In the past few years, a noteworthy
trend has been a drop in global prices of oil and gas thanks to a number of reasons. Some of
the reasons include re-emergence of quite a few other major oil producers for instance Iran
and Iraq; the sluggish economic growth of some newly emerging markets such as India,
China and Brazil; as well as developments in new technologies such as electric cars and
renewable sources of energy like solar energy (Sang Hoon & Seong-Min 2013). The drop in
the prices of oil in the international marketplace has served to drive the member states of the
GCC to consider other new approaches for obtaining other income sources (McBride, 2015).
In essence, solar power in addition to other renewable sources of energy is a significant
alternative source of energy.
According to Kendall-Taylor (2011), new processes of extracting oil and gas from
underground particularly the shale production technique have also contributed to the
challenges faced by the GCC member states. Consequently, a number of member states of the
PROPOSAL 3
Gulf Cooperation Council have had sluggish economic growth since they almost exclusively
rely on the export of oil and gas to international markets for their revenues (Jaffe & Elass
2015). On the whole, the demand of oil and gas would without doubt decline even with low
prices for these products. Kendall-Taylor (2011) pointed out that the fall in the prices of oil
from the Gulf Cooperation Council could result in production cut by the GCC member states
particular when the prices of oil and gas are low. This is largely because these countries
would want to retain their shares on the international oil market (Kassicieh & Nassar 2013).
Aim
The aim of the proposed research study is to establish the climate changes and their impact on
the energy policies of the members of the GCC. The study will also be aimed at exploring the
impact as well as significance of oil price drops on the Gulf Cooperation Council Arab states.
Draft research questions/hypotheses
The proposed research study will delve the significance and impact of oil price drops on GCC
countries, governments, companies, and individuals in consideration of the following
research question:
How essential are sustainable energy resources for the oil-rich GCC states that are affected
when the prices of oil are lowered?
Draft research objectives
Taking into account the aim of the study and the aforementioned research question,
the objective of the proposed research will be to find out the challenges that member states of
the Gulf Cooperation Council come across or face whenever the prices of oil and gas drop.
The research study will also look into the future endeavours and ventures of the GCC
countries in creating a sustainable energy system.
Feasibility of the study
PROPOSAL 4
Since the researcher has access to the available resources to complete the project, the
research study is considered feasible. The study is viable since the researcher has access to
scholarly electronic databases and can easily reach the participants to collect data from them.
The researcher will collate relevant data from a number of different resources including both
secondary sources of data and primary sources of data. With regard to primary sources,
interviews will be conducted on some of the stakeholders in the GCC countries.
PROPOSAL 5
References
Jaffe, A, & Elass, J 2015, ‘War and the oil price cycle’, Journal Of International Affairs, 69,
1, pp. 121-137, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 June 2016.
Kassicieh, S, & Nassar, J 2013, ‘Political Risk in the Gulf: The Impact of the Iran-Iraq War
on Governments and Multinational Corporations’, California Management Review,
28, 2, pp. 69-86, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 June 2016.
Kendall-Taylor, A 2011, ‘Instability and Oil: How Political Time Horizons Affect Oil
Revenue Management’, Studies In Comparative International Development, 46, 3, pp.
321-348, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 June 2016.
McBride, M 2015, ‘Global oil price plunge shakes up the way governments do taxes’,
International Tax Review, p. 1, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7
June 2016.
Peterson, JE 2011, ‘Life after Oil: Economic Alternatives for the Arab Gulf States’,
Mediterranean Quarterly, 20, 3, pp. 1-18, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost,
viewed 7 June 2016.
Sang Hoon, K, & Seong-Min, Y 2013, ‘Return and Volatility Transmission Between Oil
Prices and Emerging Asian Markets’, Seoul Journal Of Business, 19, 2, pp. 73-93,
Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 June 2016.
Toksoz, M 2012, ‘The Gulf Cooperation Council and the global recession’, Journal Of Balkan
& Near Eastern Studies, 12, 2, pp. 195-206, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost,
viewed 7 June 2016.
