Postwar Demands for Political Participation in the Arab Gulf States
| Date | 01 June 1994 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209404900209 |
| Published date | 01 June 1994 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
FRED
H.
LAWSON
Postwar
demands
for
political
partici-
pation
in
the
Arab
Gulf
states
Demands
for
greater
public
participation
in
policy-making
arose
in
virtually
all
of
the
Arab
states
of
the
Gulf
in
the
fifteen
months
following
the
end
of
the
199o-1
crisis.
These
demands
and
the responses
they
elicited
from
existing regimes
were
any-
thing
but
uniform.
On
the
contrary,
they
took
a
substantially
different
shape
in
each
of
the Gulf
emirates.
Qatari
and
Saudi
notables
openly
petitioned their
respective
rulers
to
institute
fundamental
political
reforms,
calls
that
the
two
regimes
more
or
less
firmly
rejected.
In
the
United
Arab
Emirates
(UAE),
agi-
tation
for
political
change proved considerably
more
muted
and
indirect,
prompting
virtually
no
response
on
the
part
of
the
authorities.
In
Oman,
it
was
the
ruler
who
seized
the
initiative
by
restructuring
the
existing
advisory
council
whereas
in
Bah-
rain
popular
agitation
convinced
the
ruler
to
appoint
a
consul-
tative
council.
Finally,
persistent
pressure
to
reform
Kuwait's
political
system
led
the
Al
Sabah
grudgingly
to
authorize
pop-
ular
elections
to
select
members
for
a
reconfigured
national
assembly.
These differences
highlight
not
only
crucial
dissimilarities
among
the
various
Gulf
principalities
but
also
the
inadequacy
of
existing
accounts
of
'democratization'
in this
part
of
the
world.'
As
a
way
of
improving
our
understanding of
both
the
Department
of
Government,
Mills
College,
Oakland,
California.
1
Representative
of
the
growing
literature
on
this
topic
are
Michael
C.
Hudson,
'Democratization
and the problem
of
legitimacy
in
Middle
East
politics,'
Mid-
dle
East
Studies Association
Bulletin
22(December
1988),
and
'After
the
Gulf
War:
prospects
for
democratization
in
the
Arab
world,' Middle
East
Journal
International
Journal
XLIX
SPRING
1994
DEMANDS
FOR
POLITICAL
PARTICIPATION
379
sources
of
and
the
prospects
for
political
transformation
along
the Arab
shore
of
the Gulf
in
the
post-Cold
War
era,
this
essay
will
chart
the
course
of
recent
political-economic
change
in
Qatar,
Saudi
Arabia,
the United
Arab
Emirates,
Oman, Bahrain,
and
Kuwait.
The
narrative
will
classify
recent
steps
towards
increasing
popular
participation
in
policy-making
for
each
of
these
states
along
four
dimensions:
whether the
demand
for
greater
public
participation
came
from
the
ruler
or
from
local
notables,
whether
or
not
it
was
raised
in
the
context
of
a
crisis
in
the
local
economy,
whether
or
not
the
demand
was
met,
and
whether
or
not
it
prompted
the
regime
to
devote
greater
resources
or
attention
to
social
programmes.
Finally,
the
essay
will
explore
the
connection
between
demands
for
greater
polit-
ical
participation
and
the potential
for the
rise
of
radical
oppo-
sition
groups
in
the
region.
By
these means,
the
paper
aims
to
contribute
not
only to
our
understanding of
the
politics
of
the
Gulf
emirates
but
also
to
our
ability
to
explain
patterns
of
democratization
throughout
the
Arab
world.
QATAR
As
the
1991
Gulf
War
drew
to
a
close,
it
became
more
and
more
apparent
that
spending
on
the
part
of
the
Qatari
government
would
have
to
be
severely
pruned.
Even
though
the
emirate's
financial
sector suffered
little
if
any
capital
flight
during
the
months
surrounding
the
crisis,
local
business
people
expressed
growing
concern
that
state
officials
would
have
to
carry
out
an
extensive
set
of
industrial
and
infrastructural
projects
with
sub-
stantially
fewer
resources
than
before.
Because
of
the
opportu-
nities
for
profitable
investment
in postwar
Kuwait,
the
Qatari
government's
long-standing
unwillingness
to
commit
itself
to
explicit
priorities
or
firm
timetables
in
carrying
out
its
economic
45
(summer
19 9
1);
John
L.
Esposito
and James
P.
Piscatori,
'Democratization
and
Islam,'
Middle
EastJournal
45(summer
1991);
Gudrun
Kramer,
'Liberali-
zation
and
democracy
in
the
Arab
world,'
Middle East
Report,
no
174(January-
February
1992);
Saad
Eddin Ibrahim,
'Crises,
elites,
and
democratization
in
the
Arab
world,' Middle
East
Journal
47
(spring
1993).
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