IRACST- International Journal of Research in Management & Technology (IJRMT), ISSN: 2249-9563 Vol. 2, No. 1, 2012 1 Population Growth and Government Modernisation Efforts The Case of GCC countries Dr. Ali M. Al-Khouri Emirates Identity Authority Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Abstract— Because of the economic and job market requirements, the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) countries have acquired extremely high proportion of migrant workers in the world, and is considered as the third largest in the world after the European Union and North America. Supported by the expansion of the oil industry, the colossal influx of foreign residents and workforce led to the exacerbation of the demographic imbalance in the GCC countries. This had an enormous impact on the region’s landscape both socially and economically. There are serious concerns among GCC countries about the stability of the national identity in light of the disproportionate population demographics. This paper touches upon the subject of the national identity in GCC countries, and present some recent statistics about the population demographics. It also presents one of the approaches followed by the GCC countries; namely, identity management systems, to allow their governments and policy makers develop and regulate their national identity strategies and the labour market. Keywords-component; national identity, identity management. I. INTRODUCTION In the age of globalisation, the world is rapidly becoming a single place and closer to each other, as distance has become irrelevant. Amidst ruthless modernisations plans, governments have discovered some crucial implications of globalisation. From a socio-cultural perspective, globalisation exercised a permeating effect on forming the relationships between and among various locales, leading to the de-centering and dislocation of identities [1]. In fact, the world is moving towards a more complex, plural, interdependent identity structures [2]. Held [3] explains that “globalisation may be thought of initially as the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the spiritual”. The social change as result introduces “significant alteration of social structures” where social structures means “patterns of social action and interaction” [4]. Globalisation has therefore created the need for identity. Many societies are attempting to rediscover and define there sense of self (often referred to as national identity) in a world that is rapidly producing cosmopolitan societies driven by economic powers. Therefore, national identity in many countries has been the object of governmental policies aimed at the restoration of rooted tradition, religious fervour and/or commitment to ethnic or national identities [5]. This paper looks at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the Middle East; one of the most important and strategically vital regions in the world. GCC countries represent a unique phenomenon with regards to their population composition. Unlike many other countries in the world, nationals constitute a minority in four of the countries. GCC countries are occupied by one of the most diverse workforces in the world, who constitute 60 to 90% of the labour workforce. This had triggered some courses of actions in GCC countries to preserve national identity. One of the approaches adopted by the GCC countries is the development of contemporary identity management systems to provide them with modern enablers to authenticate the identities of their legitimised population both citizens and foreign residents. The paper is structured as follows. A short background to GCC countries is provided which sheds light on its history and its development principles. Then, some recent data about GCC population and the changing patterns of their demographics are explored. The issue of identity in GCC countries is discussed to pinpoint the ideology of its collective identity structure shaping the 'Gulf Society'. Next, an overview of the national identity management approach adopted in GCC countries is provided which outlines its primary objectives and benefits, and the paper is concluded. II. BACKGROUND TO GCC COUNTRIES Figure 1. Middle East in the World Map. The Gulf Cooperation Council, referred to as GCC, is a regional co-operation system between six of the southern Gulf