ABSTRACT
Two of the major forces sweeping the world in the 1990s are democracy and religious resurgence. This chapter addresses the ‘mini-wave’ of political change and its two attributes: democratization and liberalization. The objective is to understand the challenges of democratization and liberalization in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries through case studies of Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The chapter examines the implications of the aforementioned two processes for human rights practices. The GCC ruling elites face three interacting, concentric dilemmas involving the security, political, and religious domains. Democratization is the process of transition to democracy. It involves meaningful political participation by the people, through elections, in selecting or replacing their governmental representatives. Islamic tradition strongly influences daily life in the GCC countries. Muslim interest groups view the monarchies as deviating from the path of Islam. Inclusive political participation in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia is limited to adult male citizens.
