The Crown Prince’s renewed anti-corruption effort faces serious threats, particularly from powerful elites with a deep vested interest in maintaining the fig leaf of impunity.
The battle for culture, the conquest of space, the re-interpretation of heritage and the competition for writing Bahrain’s collective memory are well under way in an island roughly half the size of New York City.
Greater Gulf unity is a popular demand. But in order for a union to work, if one were ever to see the light of day, governments in the Gulf must learn to set their priorities straight.
A call for foreign intervention is a cry for help by an embattled opposition walking a shaky tightrope with a tough choice ahead.
In the Gulf, it is all too easy to succumb to the temptation of catering to the population’s excessive tendency to consume as opposed to engaging in innovative entrepreneurship with an exportable added value.
This exclusionary cultural gentrification of Muharraq, while holding promising social and identity prospects for a handful, may risk alienating many locals.
The new labour market scheme represents an economic translation of the political victory of the merchant elite and its allies within government.
Although conservatives within the ruling establishment will go to considerable lengths to ensure Shiite political movements are kept at bay, expect them to be equally relentless in ensuring an uncontested domination over its core Sunni constituency.
A fierce political battle is currently being waged between the government and the opposition over the labour unions.
Over the past year or so, the government and the opposition have both been locked in a game of chicken.
Given the country’s regressive welfare system and the absence of a progressive income tax regime, households on the top of the income ladder who can afford to consume more end up benefiting disproportionately.
Bahrainis of all political affiliations waited in tense anticipation as rumours of a Saudi – Bahraini union circulated days before the Gulf leaders convened in Riyadh for the Gulf Cooperation Council summit on May 14th, 2012. The summit fell short of expectations however.
