Qatar: Power held by amir and royal family. Political parties banned, and no open opposition tolerated.
Damn that sux. But an interesting colonial history . . . read Europeans.
Bahrain: No political parties. Senior members of Al Khalifa and other notable families dominate political and economic decision making.
Damn that sux. But an interesting colonial history . . . read Europeans.
Oman: trust me, familiar story
Yemen: The constitution adopted in 1991, which was similar to North Yemen's 1970 constitution, provided for a 301-member elected legislature, called the Council of Deputies . . .In September 1994, at the end of the country's civil war, the Council of Deputies voted to adopt major reforms to the unification constitution. The amended constitution declares Sharia (Islamic law) as the basis of all legislation and describes the economy as market-based. The reforms also abolished the five-member Presidential Council and stipulated that the presidency be decided by universal suffrage, with no one permitted to hold office for more than two terms. Ali Abdullah Saleh has been president since 1990.
Kuwait: Al Sabah family dominates political events, but several prominent merchant families also powerful. Opposition, independent, and Islamist elements becoming stronger in early 1990s. Political parties illegal.
Damn that sux. But an interesting colonial history . . . read Europeans.
Saudi Arabia: Islam was a pervasive social and political force in Saudi Arabia. Because there was no separation of religion and state, the political role of religious scholars, or ulama, was second in importance to that of the ruling Al Saud family. The close association between the ulama, advocating the strict Islamic interpretations of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, and the Al Saud originated in the eighteenth century and provided the dynasty with its primary source of legitimacy. The ulama acted as a conservative force in maintaining the traditional social and political values that characterized Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s.
Although Saudi Arabia was established as a country based on a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, the discovery of vast petroleum deposits led to significant changes in the role of religion. Since the 1950s, when oil revenues became abundant, Saudi rulers have sought to reap the economic benefits derived from oil resources while trying to minimize the political and social impact of change. Nevertheless, the transformation of Saudi Arabia from a relatively isolated, predominantly rural country into a wealthy, urbanized nation hosting tens of thousands of foreign workers inevitably produced tensions. From a political perspective, the most significant development was the emergence of a group of middle-class professionals. This important and highly educated group of Saudis generally resented the lack of opportunities for citizen participation in politics. Beginning in the 1960s, they tried to pressure the monarchy into creating an elective representative assembly. Saudi kings resisted demands for political liberalization by strengthening regime ties with the ulama, who tended to distrust the notion of popular government because of the implicit assumption that manmade legislation could be equal to sacred law.