ABSTRACT
Of all the monarchical systems in the Islamic world, so far tiny Bahrain has been the only one to be directly hit by the Spring. Unlike other countries, which belong to the same category only by their phenomenological resemblance to the others, the monarchical model has much more in common to share, and therefore its members also tend to hang together, knowing that the fall of the one may signal the decline of others. This model is in the minority in the Islamic world, for its members are typified by absolute power of the monarch; therefore any demand for reform is bound to be rejected, and attention is directed elsewhere in order to escape any change. It also so happens that most of these countries are rich in oil, and their immense wealth helps them bribe their way out of trouble. Therefore, they have been able to avoid so far all the demands for change, in spite of the challenges that have come closer to their doorsteps than ever before. These countries are also relatively sparse in population relative to the immense territories and vast wealth that they wield, which for that reason attracts envy and subversion, when hopes to share with others some of that wealth peacefully by way of donations are not requited, and the quest of large countries with demographic surpluses and a scarcity of resources—like Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey—to sink their teeth into those juicy pears is refuted. Therefore, these monarchies assist each other for their own survival. Their defense pacts, like the one of the Gulf area that began as a regional necessity, were extended to Jordan recently for that very reason, and probably will be extended later to faraway Morocco.
