Since the 1990s, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries aimed to focus in their economic planning on diversification of their economies that are mainly dependent on oil with varying degrees depending on the country, to avoid the high fluctuations in global oil prices that cause volatility and instability in their national incomes. Applying an empirical and comparative approach for two distinguished economies out of the six GCC countries, namely United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia (SA), this study aims to use time series data over the period 1980-2014 for both countries to reflect the diversification attempts? effect on GDP per capita.

The World Bank (2010) infers that countries which implement prudent macroeconomic policies, governance and social policies supported by effective and efficiently implemented institutional frameworks tend to experience higher economic growth, development and enjoy tolerable levels of democratic institutions and good governance. Guided by the scholarly domains of contemporary economic growth, governance and social justice theories, the contemplated research will examine aggregate figures of economic performance in Kenya, Ghana and Zambia. The traditional measures of economic growth and development such as GDP, GNI, HDI and MDGs will be utilized. Country Policy & Institutional Assessment (CPIA), Performance-Based Allocation (PBA) and Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) are other generally accepted measures that will be utilized to assess quality and efficacy of governance, social policies and institutional performance. By comparing the aggregate and country level indicators of economic growth and development with the quality and efficacy of institutional policies, the contemplated research will attempt to provide data based indication about the relationship between economic growth, governance and social justice and link the findings to actual development outcomes in Kenya, Ghana and Zambia.

Worsening disparities among and within countries in terms of income, GDP, and welfare have occupied the attention of researchers and policy makers over the years; in particular, how the alignment of these disparities with one or more language, religion, or geography creates violence and conflict. In Ghana, there is a north-south divide of the country in terms of income, access to services, and other development outcomes. Orthodox economics holds that these disparities will disappear with economic growth and with time, but the opposite is happening in practice. Although Ghana has registered positive economic growth since 1983, poverty and spatial inequality in terms of incomes, access to services and welfare has worsened, especially between northern and southern Ghana.