COUNTRY STUDY:BAHRAIN AND EGYPT This research

This research paper describes, compares and contrasts the principal factors (indicators) which have shaped the respective political cultures, dominant political leadership patterns, institutions and policies of Bahrain and Egypt. They include the natural environment, geographical position, religion and economic constraints and potentials.

I. Historical Evolution of Politics and the State

The natural environment, especially climate, has played a significant role in influencing politics and government in both Bahrain and Egypt over the centuries; however, they were a more decisive factor in Egyptian political history. Bahrain as a culture dates back to the third millennium B.C., whereas Egyptian civilization (one of the oldest in the world) is more than 6,000 years old. Robison & Greenway commented that Bahrain had "a much more temperate climate 4500 years ago" than it does today (62). The Dilmun Empire in Bahrain was closely connected to the Sumerian religion then practiced in Mesopotamia in which "Bahrain's greenery was central" (Robison & Greenway 64). The relatively mild climate of Bahrain, as compared to that of neighboring continental areas of the Gulf region, made it ideal for seafaring trade including excellent harbors and an abundant supply of fresh water. Egypt's politics and state structures were more directly a product of a climate which yielded a large, thinly populated arid area and a densely populated Nile River Valley who

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ruction of the Suez Canal and the development of long-staple cotton as a major export crop. However, the rising Egyptian professional and middle classes organized mass protests against British rule which finally succeeded in the Free Officers' coup d'etat of July 1952 and an ending to British colonialism. II. Post-World War II Political Development and Modernization Bahrain and Egypt (1945-1971). Before independence in 1971, Bahrain's amir ruled with an iron hand. Power then and since has been handed down peacefully from father to son. Robison & Greenway said Bahrain is "the only Gulf country with a strict rule of primogeniture" (71). No political opposition or dissent was tolerated. The principal difference between the extremely conservative amir, Sheikh Isa bin Ali (1869-1932) and his successors Hamad (1932-1942) and Sulman (1942-1961) was that the latter expanded Bahrain's spending on infrastructure and education. Bahrain has made remarkable progress in reducing illiteracy, going from near total illiteracy in the 1920s to an illiteracy rate of 52.9 percent in 1971 and 14.8 percent in 1995 (Nakhleh 19 & Bahrain Europa International Yearbook 2000 568). Bahrain began commercially producing crude oil in the 1950s and rapidly

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