The opposition in Bahrain: a bellwether for the Gulf?
Middle East Policy › Vol. 5 Nbr. 2, May 1997
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Summary
The Gulf
The world community should take note of the growing unrest in Bahrain and the mass Shia movement which could dramatically change political relationships and policies in the Gulf region. Social and economic discontent involving high unemployment rates for Shia as well as discrimination have contributed to the unrest and expansion of the movement. Saudi Arabia's support of Shia opposition make it most vulnerable to Shia protests and large scale resistance movements.See the full content of this document
Extract
The opposition in Bahrain: a bellwether for the Gulf?
While the bombings of U.S. military facilities and potential Islamic unrest in Saudi Arabia have captured public attention, a little-noticed but much more serious opposition movement is taking shape in neighboring Bahrain, with the potential to reshape political dynamics in the Gulf. While Bahrain has seen periods of political disturbance in the past, this post-Gulf-War unrest has new and distinctive features. What is different today is the formation of a genuine mass movement that has become a Shia phenomenon, a factor that could have repercussions elsewhere in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Like most such phenomena, however, the unrest in Bahrain has complex local causes -- political, social and economic. This article will attempt to put the current movement in historical context; to unravel its various components, and to assess the effectiveness of the regime's efforts to deal with it.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT Reform movements in Bahrain have a considerable history. In every decade since 1920, Bahrainis have protested and petitioned their emirs for political reform and social and economic modernization. Early efforts at political reform can be traced to 1919, when Bahrain was still a semi-protectorate of Britain. In that year, the emir allowed the establishment of Bahrain's first advisory council, although the attempt lapsed under objections from Britain. In 1923, the British themselves introduced limited legal reforms, including a mixed court and a municipal council. Responding to these steps, on October 23, 1923, a number of Bahraini notables drew up a petition asking the emir to establish a consultative council and to limit the powers of the British agent in Bahrain. The leaders of this reform drive were mainly Sunni merchants, clerics and tribal leaders. Under advice from the British, the emir rejected these demands and arrested some of the petitioners. Two of them were sent in exile to India. It is interesting to note that while the Sunnis rejected some of these legal reforms, the Shia tended to favor them as a means of weakening the emir's authority. For a time, the Shia got the support and sympathy of the British. Popular confrontation with government authority resumed again in the 1930s, this time driven by economic pressures resulting from Bahrain's first steps into the global economy. In 1934, Bahrain became the first Arab Gulf country to export oil. This event had an immediatesocio-economic and political effect on the country and played an important role in fosteringmodernization of Bahrain's institutions and infrastructure. One unintended social consequence was to bring together the Sunni and Shia who worked in the oil industry, a significant rapprochement, given their previous ...See the full content of this document
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