Gulf Arab states are looking to build economic bridges with countries in the Middle East and Africa.     Last year, the International Monetary Fund announced that major energy producers – like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – are expected to collect $1.3 trillion in profits from high oil prices over the next four years. These profits are expected to fund Gulf Arab states’ investments abroad.  At home, they aim to diversify their economies and invest in the energy transition although they anticipate oil demand to rise in the next few years.  What does the move toward economic cooperation in the Middle East and Africa mean for the global world order? What does it mean for relationships with the U.S. and China? And to what extent will the energy transition be a focus for investment?    This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Karen Young about her book “The Economic Statecraft of the Gulf Arab States” which came out earlier this year. They discuss how the rise of authoritarian or state capitalism in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and West Asia could impact the global energy transition.  Karen is an author and political economist focusing on the Gulf, the broader Middle East and North Africa region, and the intersection of energy, finance, and security. She was a senior fellow and founding director of the Program on Economics and Energy at the Middle East Institute. She is currently a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, SIPA.