How do IR scholars ‘write’ the Arab Gulf? In attempting to address this question, the focus is twofold: first, the ‘small state’ as a construct and second, its application to the study of Gulf small states. The article tries to grapple with issues inherent in such an enterprise by providing a critical assessment of recent scholarship on the topic, with special reference to Qatar and the UAE. The problematic comes to the fore in a context of these two countries’ increasing regional and international visibility, as well as what seems to be renewed scholarly interest in small states, more generally. Specifically, this analysis primarily seeks to relativize the small state within the Arab Gulf sub-region, drawing attention to ontological and epistemological issues. In so doing, the article offers some heuristics for the writing of small states in the Arab Gulf. One suggestion put forward in the article is more scrutiny of the regional context; what is called here the ‘hydrocarbon semi-periphery’; and misgivings (conceptual and empirical) concerning, respectively, the treatment of ‘soft power,’ mediation, and intervention. One parting idea to derive from this line of inquiry is its cautionary note against inflating the utility or the explanatory power of a catch-all ‘small state’ construct when it comes to non-Western settings.

国际关系学者如何“书写”阿拉伯海湾？在试图解决这个问题时，重点是双重的：首先，“小国”作为一种建构，其次，它在海湾小国研究中的应用。本文试图通过对有关该主题的近期奖学金的批判性评估来解决此类企业固有的问题，特别是卡塔尔和阿联酋。在这两个国家的地区和国际知名度不断提高，以及学术界似乎对小国重新产生兴趣的背景下，问题就凸显出来了。具体而言，该分析主要旨在将阿拉伯海湾次区域内的小国相对化，引起对本体论和认识论问题的关注。这样做时，这篇文章为阿拉伯湾小国的写作提供了一些启发。文章中提出的一项建议是对区域背景进行更多审查；这里所说的“碳氢化合物半外围”；和疑虑（概念和经验）分别涉及“软实力”、调解和干预的处理。从这一调查线索中得出的一个分道扬镳是，它警告说，当涉及到非西方环境时，不要夸大一个包罗万象的“小国”结构的效用或解释力。