Democracy and Democratization in the Gulf

Contents: Introduction. Part 1. Democracy and Democratization: 1. Democratization: Some Theoretical and Methodological 1 Considerations/Hussein Solomon. 2. "Modern States or Family Enterprises?" Some Theoretical Reflections on Democratization and State Formation in the Gulf Region/Dietrich Jung. 3. Democratization in the Greater/Broader Middle East and the Gulf/Gulshan Dietl. 4. The Dynamics of Change in the Arab Gulf/Rushda Siddiqui. Part 2. Media and the Market: 5. Media and Democratization in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries/Omair Anas. 6. New Market Spaces and Challenges to the State Sovereignty in the Arab Gulf Region/M.H. Ilias. Part 3. Saudi Arabia: Opposition and Human Rights in a Liberalizing Autocracy: 7. Democratization in Saudi Arabia/Jajati K. Pattnaik. 8. Saudi Arabia: Transition to a Liberalized Autocracy?/Ajish Joy. 9. Gradualism in Saudi Arabian Reforms and the Role of Opposition/Stanly Johny. 10. Human Rights Reforms in Saudi Arabia: Recent Developments/Prasanta Kumar Pradhan. 11. Political Discourses among Iranian Women since the Islamic Revolution/Beryl Anand. Part 4. Iran and Iraq: Ethnicity and Gender, Economy and Occupation. 12. Flicker of Democracy in Iran? Assessing Freedom of Press under Khatami/Sujata Ashwarya Cheema. 13. Subsidies in Iran: Impediments to Democratic Experience/Sameena Hameed. 14. Democratizing Iraq: Parliamentary Election January 2005/Angela Gangmei. 15. Democratic Experiment in Iraqi Kurdistan, 1991-2003/LungthuiYang Riamei. Part 5. Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE: 16. Trajectory of Political Democracy in Kuwait/Anwar Alam. 17. Building Representative Institutions in a Traditional Society: The Political Reform Process in Oman/Shelly Johny. 18. Political Reforms in Bahrain: Initiative from Above/Rajiv Kumar. 19. Democratic Reforms in Qatar/Basir Ahmed and Marshal Gao. 20. US Initiative of Political Liberalization and Democracy in UAE: A Myth/Syeeda Khatoon. Contributors. Index.

"Democracy is a process that goes on continuously in various places, at varied paces, all over the world. Today, the US-sponsored exercise in democracy promotion has been suspended and the banner of democracy has been folded and shelved. The political evolution in the Gulf, like anywhere else, predates democratization from afar and has continued todate. The book lays down theoretical contexts of the concept and assesses the state of democratic experiments in the Gulf States."