ABSTRACT
The six Gulf countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) – have the highest standard of living in the Arab world, yet they are the most authoritarian. For the period 1960 to 2003 per capita income of the Gulf States as a group averaged US$13,600 in constant 2000 prices, more than 13 times the rest of the Arab world and its per capita income of under $1,000. However, the Gulf’s accumulated wealth has not led to democratization, as the modernization theory would predict (Lipset, 1959). The polity score, a raw measure of democracy, of the Gulf averaged –9.2 (the lowest possible score being –10 and the highest 10), compared to –5.5 for the rest of the Arab world for the same period, 1960 to 2003.
