ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on identifying the separateness of the region from the rest of the Arab world in order to explain the impact of the uprising on the Gulf countries and the prospects of democratic development in this part of the West Asian region. The popular uprising that spread throughout the Arab world started with a tragic but seemingly insignificant event in a small town in Tunisia. Among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Oman was the first to respond to the Arab uprisings. In January 2011, protests in Oman highlighted issues such as rising prices, low wages and pervasive corruption. On March 14, invoking a GCC security agreement, an estimated 1,000 Saudi troops crossed the causeway from the Saudi mainland, accompanied by some 500 United Arab Emirates police and some Qatari troops. Civil society organisations are essential for democratic exchanges to take root and create a movement for change in this direction.