Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0028/00287.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 30KB | 538 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00287}
$Pretitle{385A}
$Title{Bahrain
Chapter 1A.   Bahrain}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Laraine Newhouse Carter}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{bahrain
percent
al
gulf
education
population
khalifa
government
work
bahrain's}
$Date{1990}
$Log{Crest*0028701.scf
Figure 8.*0028702.scf
Children in primary school*0028703.scf
}
Country:     Bahrain
Book:        Persian Gulf States, An Area Study: Bahrain
Author:      Laraine Newhouse Carter
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1990

Chapter 1A.   Bahrain

[See Crest: Crest of the State of Bahrain.]

Country Profile

Country

     Formal Name: State of Bahrain.

     Short Form: Bahrain.

     Term for Citizens: Bahraini(s); adjectival form, Bahraini.

     Capital: Manama.

     Flag: Three-fourths red field with serrated line separating white field
on staff side.

Geography

     Size: About 676 square kilometers.

     Topography: An archipelago, of which four islands inhabited and Bahrain
by far largest.

     Climate: Hot and humid, little rainfall.

Society

     Population: About 395,000 in mid-1984, of which about 70 percent
Bahrainis.

     Education: In 1984 about 85 percent of school-age children enrolled in
12-year school system. Legislation being drafted to make education (free)
compulsory for at least primary cycle of six years.

     Health: Free, comprehensive public health care system, plus three
hospitals outside government system.

     Ethnic Groups: Most Bahrainis are Arabs, although fairly large number of
Iranian origin. Foreign community includes other Arabs, Iranians, Indians
Pakistanis, and smaller groups of East Asians and Europeans.

     Religion: Excluding Indians, East Asians, and Europeans, population about
70 percent Shia (see Glossary) and 30 percent Sunni (see Glossary).

Economy

     Gross Domestic Product (GDP): In 1982 US$4 billion; per capita US$10,100.

     Industry: Hydrocarbons and related industries, ship repair, and aluminum;
in 1982 contributed about 70 percent of GDP.

     Agriculture: Contributed about 2 percent of GDP in 1982.

     Services: Banking and similar services contributed about 26 percent of
GDP in 1983.

     Exports: Total exports in excess US$3.7 billion in 1982, down 12.8
percent from 1981. Refined oil dominant export, earning about US$3.1 billion
in 1982.

     Imports: Total about US$3.8 billion in 1982, decrease of 9.6 percent from
1981. Machinery and transportation equipment major items at about US$702
million.

Government and Politics

     Government: Ruler (amir) head of state and head of government. Shaykh Isa
bin Salman Al Khalifa became amir in 1961; his son and designated successor,
Shaykh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, continued to serve in 1984 as defense
minister. National Assembly elected 1973, dissolved in 1975; no indication
in 1984 of plans to reestablish.

     Politics: No political parties. Senior members of Al Khalifa and other
noble families dominate political and economic decision-making.

     Foreign Relations: Shaykh Isa continued in 1984 to maintain friendly
relations with wide range of countries, but major activities channeled through
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Member of United Nations, GCC, League of Arab
States (Arab League), and Organization of the Islamic Conference.

National Security

     Armed Forces: Estimated strengths in early 1984: army, 2,300; navy, 300;
and air force, 100. Service voluntary. Small, lightly armed army depends
primarily on armored cars. Navy has two gunboats, awaiting delivery of two
missile boats. Air force to acquire combat capability after delivery in 1984
of McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms and Northrop F-20 Tigersharks.

General Setting

     The country's ruler in 1984 was Shaykh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who had
become the head of the Al Khalifa family upon the death of his father, Shaykh
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, in 1961. Isa, who was born in 1933, was the tenth
Al Khalifa ruler of the Bahrain Archipelago; when Bahrain secured its
independence from British protection and suzerainty on August 14, 1971, Isa
became the first Amir of Bahrain.

     In mid-1984 the Al Khalifa continued to dominate Bahrain's government and
society. Isa's brother, Shaykh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, was prime
minister and head of government; Isa's eldest son, Shaykh Hamad bin Isa Al
Khalifa, was defense minister and heir apparent. Six other members of the
royal family served in the 17-member cabinet. The pragmatic, Western-oriented
team of ministers has, with few changes, directed Bahrain's affairs since the
withdrawal of the British protectorate in 1971.

     The paramount family among the noble beduin tribes from the interior of
the Arabian Peninsula who in 1783 expelled the Iranians from Bahrain's
islands, the Al Khalifa by the late nineteenth century had adopted a form of
hereditary succession. Unlike most Arab monarchies, which select the heir
apparent from among the several able males within the royal family, the Al
Khalifa succession is based on primogeniture. Since the rule of Shaykh Ali bin
Khalifa Al Khalifa (1868-69), each ruler has been succeeded by his eldest son.
The 1973 Constitution specifies that future rulers must be from the lineage of
Amir Isa.

     The political stability and relative economic prosperity of the royal
family and Bahrain were fixed by the three men who ruled from 1869 to 1961:
Shaykh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa (1869-1932), his son Shaykh Hamad (1932-42), and
his grandson Shaykh Salman (1942-61). During this period the various shaykhs
signed treaties of protection with Britain, granted oil concessions to foreign
companies, and laid the groundwork for the government that was formed after
independence. Bahrain was the first Gulf Arab state to benefit from the
discovery of oil, the first to institute general and free education and public
health services, and the first to experience serious domestic unrest.

     Because of the modest oil reserves of this small island state, the ruling
family has linked the society's economic future to the building of a viable
regional services and industrial center. In 1984 it was the Persian Gulf's
principal base for banking, insurance, and ship repair and was the Gulf's
focal point for regional business operations and joint-venture industrial
projects.

     Bahrain enjoyed the most efficient communications system in the Gulf and
was actively developing its educational sector, petroleum services, and
selected industries, such as petrochemicals, aluminum smelting and extrusion,
and iron ore processing. Bahrain's population was hardworking and was exposed
to modern education a generation earlier than its neighbors.

     Despite potentially divisive elements within its diverse society-Bahrain
was the only lower Gulf state with a majority Shia population-it had the most
relaxed social climate of all the Gulf states in 1984 and the one most
hospitable to expatriate workers. There was some speculation as to whether
this would remain the case once the causeway linking Bahrain with the Saudi
Arabian mainland was completed at the end of 1985. Most observers felt,
however, that the function of "social pressure value" that Bahrain serves for
the Gulf, as well as the resoluteness of the Bahrain elite to shape their own,
unique society, would prevail.

     Since the early 1960s Bahrain has transformed itself from a remote,
sleepy island-scarcely noted save for its archaeological sites, pearl
fishing, and oil refinery-into a modern, sophisticated, and diversified
economy. Between 1973 and 1981 the economy of Bahrain was radically
transformed. This rapid and somewhat uneven economic growth typically was
accompanied by high inflation and some social dislocation as living and
working patterns took new forms. Many Bahrainis were not altogether
displeased when the economy cooled in 1979.

     New project planning between 1980 and 1983-much of it the product of
joint ventures with its wealthier neighbors-once ag