|
Bahrain NATIONAL SECURITY
Armed Forces: In 1993 personnel strength 7,150:
army,
6,000; navy, 500; and air force, 650. Service voluntary.
Army in
1991 had 81 M-60A3 main battle tanks and armored cars.
Navy had
two corvettes and four missile craft. Air force had
McDonnell
Douglas F-5 Tigers, General Dynamics F-16 Fighting
Falcons, and
Agusta/Bell-212 armed helicopters.
Paramilitary: In 1993 coast guard about 400
personnel;
police about 9,000.
Overview
IN 1993 BAHRAIN CONTINUED to be ruled by the Al Khalifa
family. The amir, Shaykh Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifa (b.
1933), was
the eleventh ruler of the Al Khalifa dynasty, which has
ruled the
country since 1783. Originally, the Al Khalifa were a
prominent
family among the Bani Utub beduin tribes from the interior
of the
Arabian Peninsula who had settled on the Persian Gulf
coast
during the eighteenth century. The Al Khalifa initially
established a successful commercial port at Az Zubarah on
the
western coast of the Qatar Peninsula, but this was
attacked
several times by rulers of Bahrain, at that time part of
the
Iranian Empire, which intermittently controlled Bahrain
from 1602
to 1782. Eventually, with the assistance of a tribal
coalition
that included the Al Sabah--another Bani Utub family--of
Kuwait,
the Al Khalifa captured Bahrain from Iran. The first Al
Khalifa
ruler, Ahmad ibn Muhammad (r. 1783-96), adopted policies
that
enabled Bahrain's ports to develop into prosperous trade
and
pearling centers.
During the reign of subsequent Al Khalifa rulers,
dynastic
feuding among heirs, as well as wars with Oman, adversely
affected Bahrain's economy and the security of regional
trade.
The family rivalries prompted Britain, then the paramount
power
in the area, to impose a series of treaties that made
Bahrain a
British protectorate by 1868. An important consequence of
Britain's intervention was the regulation of the Al
Khalifa
succession on the basis of primogeniture. After the death
of
Shaykh Ali ibn Khalifa Al Khalifa (r. 1868-69) in a
dynastic war
instigated by his brother and nephew, Britain refused to
accept
the legitimacy of the victor's rule and forced all
factions to
acknowledge Ali's son, Shaykh Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa (r.
1869-
1923), as the rightful heir. Since that time, each Al
Khalifa
ruler has been succeeded by his eldest son. This practice
was
unlike succession in most other Arab dynasties, which
chose the
heir apparent from among several able males within the
royal
family. The principle of primogeniture was codified in the
1973
constitution.
In early 1993, Isa ibn Salman had ruled Bahrain for
thirtytwo years, having succeeded to the throne in 1961 on the
death of
his father, Shaykh Salman ibn Hamad Al Khalifa (r.
1942-61). At
the time of Isa ibn Salman's accession, Bahrain was still
a
British protectorate. Isa ibn Salman negotiated the
termination
of the country's dependent status after Britain announced
in 1968
that it would withdraw all its defense forces from the
Persian
Gulf region. When Bahrain achieved complete independence
in 1971,
Isa ibn Salman assumed the title of amir.
The Al Khalifa continued to dominate Bahrain's
government and
society after independence. The amir's brothers, sons,
nephews,
and cousins controlled the major decision-making
positions. For
example, Isa ibn Salman's brother, Shaykh Khalifa ibn
Salman Al
Khalifa, was prime minister and head of government in late
1992;
the amir's eldest son, Shaykh Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa,
was
deputy prime minister and heir apparent; and six other
members of
the ruling family served in the cabinet, including Major
General
Khalifa ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa, who was minister of defense.
In 1993 Bahrain's economy continued to experience
relative
prosperity. Before the discovery of oil in 1932, the
country's
economy had been based on trade and pearling.
Fortuitously, oil
was discovered in commercial quantities just as the
development
of the cultured pearl by the Japanese caused the collapse
of the
Persian Gulf pearling industry. By 1935 oil wells and a
small
refinery were in operation, thus enabling Bahrain to claim
distinction as the first Arab state in the region to
benefit from
the presence of oil resources. Both Shaykh Hamad ibn Isa
Al
Khalifa (r. 1923-42) and his son, Shaykh Salman ibn Hamad,
used
revenues obtained from oil concessions and production
royalties
to institute education and health care programs and
various
public services.
Although oil revenues accounted for more than one-half
the
government budget until the 1980s, the ruling family
recognized
that Bahrain's oil wells had a limited productive capacity
and
that oil reserves probably would be exhausted by the end
of the
twentieth century. Consequently, the government decided to
base
the country's long-term economic well-being on commercial
and
industrial diversification. Official efforts to encourage
jointventure projects resulted in the construction of several
enterprises, including an aluminum plant (opened in 1972),
a ship
repair yard (1977), an iron foundry (1984), a chemical
factory
(1985), and a pharmaceutical facility (scheduled to open
in
1993). In addition, Bahrain's efficient communications
system and
relatively liberal financial policies enabled the island
state to
emerge in the 1980s as a principal center for regional
banking,
insurance, and business operations.
The transformation of Bahrain's economy created new
occupational groups, in particular an industrial working
class
and a highly educated professional class. Bahrain's
indigenous
labor force was unique in the immediate area because
foreign
workers constituted virtually the entire labor force in
the
neighboring countries of Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and
the
United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although trade unions and
other labor
associations were illegal in Bahrain, workers organized
their
first strike as early as 1943. Labor unrest erupted
periodically
during the next thirty years but declined after 1974, when
the
percentage of foreign workers in the industrial labor
force began
to increase significantly. The growth of an indigenous
class of
professionals tended to shift societal interest away from
working
conditions and wages in the oil industry and toward the
issue of
political participation. Bahrain's professionals were
among the
most enthusiastic supporters of the brief experiment with
an
elected legislature in the early 1970s; since the
dissolution of
the National Assembly in 1975, professionals have been
consistent
advocates of a return to democratic political
institutions.
Two generations of economic and social changes failed
to
lessen sectarian tensions in Bahrain. The Al Khalifa and
their
historical political allies are
Sunni (see Glossary)
Muslims.
However, at least two-thirds of Bahrain's population
identify
themselves as
Shia (see Glossary)
Muslims. Shia were the
original
inhabitants of the archipelago when the Al Khalifa seized
it from
Iranian control in the 1780s. Although the Al Khalifa have
not
persecuted the Shia, they have habitually excluded them
from
political power. Shia generally resent their subordinate
political status; periodically this resentment flares up
as
incidents of religious strife. The Iranian Revolution of
1979--
which resulted in Shia clergy controlling that country's
government--tended to exacerbate Shia-Sunni tensions in
Bahrain
because events in Iran inspired Shia activists in Bahrain
to
demand more equitable political representation for their
community.
The Iranian Revolution and the subsequent Iran-Iraq War
(1980-88) demonstrated how much Bahrain's political
stability and
economic prosperity depended on overall regional security.
The
government sought to contain the spillover effects of
these
crises by joining with Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, and
Saudi
Arabia in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981. As a
result
of its membership, Bahrain obtained GCC intelligence
assistance
in monitoring the activities of local dissident groups
suspected
of receiving support from Iran and profited from inclusion
in
regional economic development plans. In addition, it
received GCC
approval for a program of enhancing its military
capability
through the purchase of advanced United States weapons.
During
the Persian Gulf War of 1991, Bahrain participated in the
GCC
coalition that sent troops to Saudi Arabia to fight
against Iraq
and permitted the United States Navy to use its port
facilities.
Data as of January 1993
|
