For several decades now, the states of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States1 (GCC) have defied many preconceived ideas of modernity and development. Half a century ago, these countries could hardly be called anything but undeveloped. Illiteracy, subsistence economies and no electricity in large parts of the countries were no exceptions. Oman, to give just one example, was almost cut off from the rest of the world until 1970. Today, all six states of the GCC are among the first sixty countries of the Human Development Index. (UNDP 2011) Even though they have remained developing countries, they have made tremendous progress.

The term developing country usually evokes a picture of states where a few elites have benefitted from growth while the rest of the society bears the burden of industrialization: exploitative and unhealthy working conditions and low wages, while infrastructure and social welfare are only slowly improving, if at all. The situation in the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council is different. The wealth seems to have reached all layers of local societies. There are not just a few wealthy oligarchs; all citizens seem to have expensive cars, the latest cell phones, access to free health care and other welfare while paying virtually no taxes.

To many Western observers it is puzzling to find these well-known features of our own technological era combined with what could be perceived as traditional and Islamic features: a large percentage of local women can only be seen veiled and the idea persists that women can only leave the house or country with their husband, father, or brother. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, women are not allowed to drive a car and many public spheres are divided into female and male zones. International media keep repeating these phenomena as major signs of discrimination against women, although these rules are often not effective. Equally complicating matters might be the planning of a shopping trip or visits to the authorities according to the daily prayer times during which clients in Saudi Arabia often have to leave a shop, mall or offices.

What might be more puzzling than the seemingly traditional habits of the locals, however, is the fact that one hardly meets and communicates with them. Knowledge of Urdu or Hindi is often of greater value in daily life than Arabic as most services are provided by the huge amount of expatriates in the region.