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Bahrain Bahrain -- Foreign Relations
Since independence in 1971, one of the most important
objectives of Bahrain's foreign policy has been to contain
perceived threats to the country's security. As the
smallest
state in the region, Bahrain feels vulnerable to political
influences emanating from more powerful neighbors, in
particular
Iran and Iraq, and it regards close ties to Saudi Arabia
and
other Arab monarchial regimes as a means of countering
these
potentially harmful influences. During the 1970s, for
example,
the Baath socialist media in Baghdad frequently denounced
Manama
as an enemy of Arab nationalism and a puppet of
Washington's
imperialism because it allowed United States naval vessels
to use
a naval base in Bahrain. The government also believes that
Baghdad has provided financial and other support to
Bahraini
opposition groups calling for the overthrow of the Al
Khalifa
dynasty. Although Iraq moderated its policies toward
Bahrain in
the late 1970s, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 confronted
the
government with new ideological challenges. Some Shia
clergy in
Tehran denounced the institution of monarchy as
un-Islamic, and
some Shia political dissidents in Bahrain embraced this
message
enthusiastically. During the 1980s, government officials
suspected Iranian complicity in four separate plots that
it
maintained were aimed at the overthrow of the regime.
The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980 aroused
security
concerns that Bahrain shared with the other five Arab
monarchies
in the gulf: Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, and Saudi
Arabia.
During the 1970s, Bahrain lobbied these countries to
cooperate in
defense matters, but, other than bilateral agreements,
little
came from these efforts. By early 1981, when the fighting
between
Iran and Iraq appeared to have settled into a long-term
conflict,
attitudes changed, and all five Arabian Peninsula
oil-producing
states joined Bahrain in the GCC. Ostensibly, the GCC
agreement
emphasized economic cooperation, but the level of
cooperation in
security matters increased annually. For Bahrain this
meant
financial assistance for expanding its defense forces and
facilities and the opportunity to participate in joint
training
maneuvers
(see Collective Security under the Gulf Cooperation Council
, ch. 7). When fellow GCC member Kuwait was invaded
by
Iraq in 1990, Bahrain joined the collective military
effort
against Iraq by sending a small contingent of troops to
the front
lines in Saudi Arabia. It also permitted United States
military
forces to use its naval and air facilities
(see Bahrain: Persian Gulf War
, ch. 7).
Since 1981 Bahrain's most important foreign relations
have
been with its GCC allies, although problems with
individual
members of the GCC have developed. The most serious
problems have
been with Qatar. Bahrain and Qatar have unresolved
territorial
disputes stemming from the nineteenth century when the Al
Thani
of Qatar foreswore allegiance to the Al Khalifa and
established a
separate amirate. In the twentieth century, the two states
have
contested sovereignty over Hawar and the adjacent islands,
the
closest of which is fewer than two kilometers from Qatar's
west
coast. In 1939, when both countries were still
dependencies of
Britain, London ruled that the islands belonged to
Bahrain. Qatar
never accepted this decision and periodically has raised
the
issue. Incidents connected with this dispute occurred in
1978, in
1982, and in 1986, but each time they were defused by the
mediation of other GCC states. The most serious crisis,
from
April to June 1986, involved Qatari forces raiding the
Fasht ad
Dibal coral reef island north of Al Muharraq and seizing
twentynine foreign workers who were building a coast guard
station for
the government of Bahrain. The repercussions from this
incursion
have continued into the 1990s. These incidents tended to
strain
overall relations with Qatar
(see Territorial Disputes
, ch. 7).
Outside the Persian Gulf region, Bahrain has cordial
relations with other countries. The two non-Arab countries
with
which it maintains the closest relations are Britain and
the
United States. After the Persian Gulf War, Bahrain held
negotiations with Washington that culminated in 1992 in
the
signing of a defense cooperation agreement. The terms of
this
agreement permit the United States to pre-position
military
supplies and equipment in Bahrain and to use its military
facilities.
Bahrain is a member of several international
organizations,
including the United Nations, the International Monetary
Fund
(IMF--see Glossary),
and the World Health Organization. It also
belongs to several regional organizations, the most
important of
which is the League of Arab States, as well as to OPEC and
the
Organization of the Islamic Conference.
* * *
Bahrain has not received much scholarly attention but
generally is covered in books that deal with the Persian
Gulf.
Nevertheless, the country has been the focus of two
important
studies since independence. The most important book is
Fred H.
Lawson's Bahrain: The Modernization of
Autocracy,
which examines the political economy of the state in the
1970s
and 1980s. Another valuable book is Fuad I. Khuri's
Tribe and
State in Bahrain. Khuri examines the impact of the oil
economy on Bahraini society from the 1930s through 1975.
Angela
Clarke in Bahrain: Oil and Development, 1929-1989
presents
a historical retrospective of Bapco that contains useful
economic
data. (For further information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of January 1993
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