Virtuous Circle or Neo-Imperialism? The Global and Local Impact of Food (in)Security in the Gulf. This paper examines the global and local impact of Gulf food insecurity. This research asks whether or not the Arabian Gulf's quest to lessen their food dependency will lead to a "virtuous circle" for countries like Ethiopia and Sudan who have undeveloped agricultural resources. The global food crisis of 2008 led to the idea that the only way for a country to have food security, defined as "access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life" (Conceicao and Mendoza, 2009, p. 1179) is to control the means of production. (Rice, 2009, p. 48). As a result, countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE are leading a regional drive to lessen food dependency, as explored by this analysis. Both authors base their analyses on several years of field research in the Gulf, in addition to the interdisciplinary primary and secondary source material, all of which addresses a fundamental aspect of security, the need to eat. During 2008, 33 countries experienced political unrest linked with food scarcity; wheat prices rose 130%, while the price of rice rose 70%. Almost 90% of the world's arable land is already in use, and the largest reserves of untouched farm land lie in Africa, ironically, the continent which has the most trouble feeding itself. Since untapped agricultural resources in Africa are drawing global investors, how can enlightened policy turn this situation into a win-win for alleviating food dependency and poverty simultaneously? Global food security affects the entire world community, especially given nightmare inducing scarcity projections. Moreover, "decisions taken now, will have major repercussions on the livelihoods and food security of many people for decades to come." (Conceicao and Mendoza, 2009, p. 1244), thus the importance of this analysis. Done right, Gulf countries can fund agricultural and infrastructural development projects which will both lessen Gulf food dependency, stabilize pricing and give local farmers new techniques for more efficient production. Done wrong, the Gulf countries will exploit a precious resource, fertile, green land, to feed themselves at the expense of others, less fortunate, creating a new wave of imperialist exploitation and exasperating poverty and a lack of security for what Paul Collier calls "the bottom billion" (Collier, 2008, p.1).