Note: / As a result of its military campaigns for religious and political reform during the latter half ot the eighteenth century, the Su'udi principality at the al-Dir'iyah developed into a powerful state. It first brought the districts of central Arabia under its control and later annexed the region of al-Hasa. [...]

This thesis explores the modern historical lineage of absolutism in Bahrain, and the history of challenges to absolutist state authority during the peak of British influence in the Persian Gulf, the period between the First World War to the Suez crisis of 1956. It rewrites the history of Bahrain and British colonialism in the Persian Gulf through two distinct narrative threads. First, it presents a new history of the colonial-dynastic state in Bahrain and the longer tradition of indirect rule from which its architects drew, and second, it retrieves the history of the popular movements that came to challenge it. This entails an examination of not only how colonial and dynastic authority was jointly exercised, but the ideas that justified such authority over a population conceived of as a set of cultural, and more specifically religious communities governed by their own 'custom' - the conceptual centerpiece of indirect colonial rule. Both these narrative strands constitute part of a broader history of the ideological clash between late colonial ideologies of rule and anticolonial nationalism in the twentieth-century Persian Gulf - a region that was never formally colonized, nor became the site of any successful popular nationalism. Yet both these forces exerted a profound influence on the nation-states that would emerge in the late twentieth century, especially on Bahrain. To chart that historical conjuncture, the thesis begins with the creation of the modern colonial-dynastic state in Bahrain in 1923. It ends in 1956 with the last and most important uprising in Bahrain's during the 20th century, one that was largely a revolt against the political and institutional structures that colonial reformers had established three decades earlier. At its broadest, the thesis argues that the process of state-building under indirect colonial rule in Bahrain derived from a body of colonial thought on native political life and behaviour, and particularly, on the prevention of rebellion that has its origins in mid nineteenth century North India. In Bahrain and the Persian Gulf, as elsewhere in the late colonial world, ideas about empire, the state, authority and rebellion are the intertwined threads that shaped political life and the prose of history.

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This thesis investigates the interaction of student learning approaches and course design at a tertiary institution in the United Arab Emirates. The students involved in the study were mostly male students attending an English for academic purposes program. This study employed a mixed methods design utilizing questionnaires and interviews. The students completed the Revised Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) to assess their learning orientation along the deep and surface approach dimensions. The questionnaire results on the deep and surface dimensions were inconclusive. However, the results of a factor analysis suggest a disposition among the students towards attainment of satisfaction from learning. The evidence from the interviews indicates that the students were highly disposed towards practical learning outcomes, especially when these were linked to career skills. Interview evidence also points to the role of social relations amongst the students and with teachers as important learning factors. Finally, the interview analysis suggests the importance of affective factors. The results of separate questionnaires administered to a small group of faculty and the students at large, along with the interview data, indicate that the English for academic purposes courses broadly supported deep learning approaches. However, contextual factors at the college led to a highly structured and outcome based approach to the course curricula. Although the courses may have been supportive of deep learning approaches for most of the students, the courses’ prescriptive and structured approach may not have been optimal for high achievers. The implications of the findings of this study for EAP courses in the Gulf context are discussed as well as their implications for learning theory.

This dissertation discusses United Arab Emirates (UAE) state-society relations in historical perspective; analyses qualitatively the Emirati political culture; examines how the latter affects governmental policies in the UAE; and evaluates both qualitatively and quantitatively the political orientations and values of the Emirati educated youth. Through a discussion of existing theoretical and conceptual approaches, and the observation of the UAE case study, it argues that an important and overlooked dimension among students of state-society relations in authoritarian rentier states is citizens’ political culture, which should nonetheless be examined within a more integrative framework of analysis. Accordingly, this study employs a refined version of the holistic ‘state-in-society’ approach (Kamrava, 2008), in combination with rentier state theory (RST) and the political culture perspective (Almond & Verba, 1963), to qualitatively discuss the general Emirati political culture (agency/input), and assess how the latter affects governmental performance/policies (output); and to evaluate, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the political culture of the educated Emirati youth as the main potential supporters or opponents (agency/input) of the ruling elite. Adding to the debate around the continued significance and scope of RST, the dissertation concludes that the rentier nature of a state does not necessarily determine its people´s lack of interest in politics, but can actually empower them to challenge authoritarianism through political socialization. The historical approach to UAE political movements and discussion about contemporary political standpoints demonstrate that governmental policies (redistributive, co-optative, repressive, or reformist) are mainly driven by domestic pressure and run parallel to historical development of domestic political activism. Hence, rentierism by itself does is not sufficient to explain state-society relations in the Gulf region. Finally, the analysis and measurement of cognitive, affective and evaluative political orientations of Emirati UAEU students reflects that there is adherence to ‘post-materialistic’ and ‘self-expression’ values among important sectors of the Emirati educated youth, which are associated with the emergence of a participative political culture (Inglehart & Welzel, 2005): an ‘aspiring participant’ political culture.

Neoliberal preferences by the ruling families and elite of both the UAE and Qatar have informed their decision-making along the lines of investors or CEOs of country corporations. Therefore, 21st century development in these countries has followed the patterns of diversifying a portfolio. While the literature speaks to the diversification of the economy, this dissertation presents the diversification of security, wherein a neoliberal worldview shapes holistic approaches to security. Given the hard power weakness of these countries, built as it is upon the foundation of a temporary strength—resource wealth—that is rapidly becoming a future weakness, the leaders of these states have sought to maximize the efficient use of resource wealth by developing a broad array of capital and cooperation-producing activities that fill particular niche roles in the international community, thereby providing interdependence that contributes to maintaining the status quo and security. In the UAE this has followed the haven approach, a pattern that develops internally to offer a depth and breadth of activity that draws in the international community and its various forms of capital. Qatar has taken the broadcaster approach, building upon a haven-like foundation to project outward through media and diplomacy for the sake of producing interdependence. Interestingly, both countries leverage sport for the diversification of security in each approach. The UAE offers sheer numbers and scope of sport that contribute to and promote the sport capital of its haven while Qatar courts fewer but grander large-scale events that present a stage for projecting its sport power. Yet, as is the case with any strategy there are inherent risks to implementing these approaches for security purposes, chief among which is the exchange of one set of known risk—or insecurity—for another, below-the-surface set. Both countries have exacerbated or created internal sources of instability, from rapid, untenable development and the subsequent abuse of migrant workers to challenges to traditional values and identity. Ultimately, however, the UAE's haven approach has proven the most diverse and therefore most durable, especially in light of the Arab Spring. This is shown through the press profile measure, which uses keywords derived from the (in)security characteristics of each approach to ascertain the profile of each country based on articles in the international press. It, too, demonstrates that the depth and breadth of the UAE's diverse portfolio haven activities better situates it to present a profile of a viable partner for interdependence to the global community. In neoliberal and investment terms, during an economic downturn the UAE held cash and a wide assortment of bonds while Qatar doubled-down on high-risk, high-reward stocks like military and political engagement as well as the Muslim Brotherhood. On one hand, as the value of these stocks plummeted Qatar's portfolio has lost tremendous value and it continues to delay "realizing" its losses by cutting ties and rebalancing. On the other hand, the UAE now has the freedom to further rebalance and diversify its portfolio of security activities by selectively engaging in prestige-producing endeavors like using a female fighter pilot to spearhead the US-led coalition against ISIS.

This study investigates whether the remedial tertiary-level EFL classes in the Arabian Gulf States optimize the process of acquiring English for the majority of the students, namely the graduates of government high schools. I have endeavoured to uncover, by reference to my three years as an EFL teacher in the Gulf and the pertinent literature, why so much time and effort invested by myself and my students resulted in such a disproportionate lack of progress in reading and writing. I show how three major factors (diglossia, a linguistic trichotomy, and low literacy levels) conspire to impede students from learning to read and write in English through second language methodology and compare this situation to the one in Quebec. I conclude with two suggestions to make tertiary-level EFL classes more efficient and effective: the use of more familiar methodology and the teaching of reading and writing through a literacy framework. I also propose some longer-term solutions to deal with the linguistic trichotomy, a problem the Gulf Arabian States may wish to address if they intend to pursue the goal of providing a world-class education to their children.

Over the last three decades, Oman has emerged as a center of political and economic stability in the Arab world, a stability which is an essential ingredient for any country to develop and flourish. Whereas democracy and public freedoms are at the core of stability in other parts of the world, the case in Oman is different. It is not a democratic state and it did not adopt the modern concepts of human rights and public freedoms into its legal-political system until 1996 when the Basic Statute of the State was promulgated. The purpose of this study is to provide a general view of the current status of Human Rights under the Omani Basic Statute of the State with a specific focus on some civil and political rights. It illustrates the situation of human rights by assessing the implementation of the constitutional and legal safeguards into practice and finding out what hinders them. It aims to evaluate the importance of the constitution in Oman, and the extent to which it has succeeded in incorporating international human rights’ standards while walking the tightrope of reconciling this with core traditional social customs and Islamic values. It analyses the compatibility of constitutional and national laws and practice with international human rights standards and assesses current trends and policies. Three case studies for different rights and freedoms are conducted to explore the guarantees and weaknesses of different rights in practice. These are the areas of nationality 'as individual right' which is very important under the Oman system as it is the direct link to enjoyment of other rights and freedoms. The Shura is the second case study as a political right or a collective right which represents public participation in Oman. Finally, the Freedom of Association, as an example for the freedom of expression and opinion, which represents individual and group rights together. This research evaluation analyses in detail the developments since the promulgation of the Basic Statute in December 1996 but stretches to encompass developments till the developments to the end of July 2011.

This paper uses peace and conflict theory to analyse the migrant worker issue in the Gulf States, focusing on Indian construction workers in the emirate of Dubai. Peace and conflict theory is found to provide a missing perspective on the question, which is best understood in an interdisciplinary frame-work combined with for example migration and development theory. Migrant workers’ vulnerability in the global free market is described and the modern economic history of the Gulf region is discussed to explain today’s unique labour situation. Different regional and local parties to the conflict are identified to distinguish guiding interests and their impact on the conflict. Put in an international perspective, the same conflict mechanisms found in the Gulf are detected globally. They reveal widespread practises of structural and cultural violence that can only be contested by a vibrant global civil society guided by truly cosmopolitan values.

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