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Europe & Middle East / Backgrounder

Political change in the Gulf States: beyond Cosmetic Reform?

01/11/2006 By Ana Echagüe

The Gulf monarchies – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – stand to become increasingly important for European foreign policy concerns.

These states are a primary focus of the European Union’s new energy security policy, European counter-terrorist efforts and a new programme of NATO security cooperation. In the wake of several leadership successions and with elections either having recently been held or imminent in several Gulf states, it is essential for European foreign policy interests that the extent and form of political change in the region be fully understood.

While the obstacles to far-reaching reform remain formidable, Gulf polities increasingly have revealed themselves to be less static and more complex than regularly assumed

This Backgrounder looks at some of the detailed aspects of – and limits to – the Gulf’s reform processes in order to help shed light on debates over the future evolution of its monarchies.

Download the full version of this publication, available in English (246 kB)
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Keywords

Bahrain Kuwait Middle East Oman Political Reform Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates

Bio author: Ana Echagüe

Graduate in International Relations and Art History from Tufts University and obtained her Masters in International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Prior to joining FRIDE, she was Deputy Director at the University of the Middle East Project in Madrid. She has also worked as a financial analyst at Lehman Brothers in London.