ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the dynamics of political liberalisation in Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman in recent decades, focusing specifically on the evolution of their parliaments 1 as the most prominent institutions of representative democracy. Although the countries have similarities by dint of their geographical proximity, religion, economic reliance on oil and monarchical structure, the recent history of their parliaments emphasise their distinctiveness and the differential impact of social, economic and political factors on the process of gradual liberalisation in each.
