Bahrain - Fiscal Policy and the Retreat of the Rentier State

The large oil revenues obtained by Bahrain have been used wisely to fund a large public sector and to provide generous social welfare benefits, all in the interests of ensuring public support for the regime. This policy, which has not been entirely successful as shown by the 2011 unrest, is coming under increasing strain as oil revenues decline and government debt rises. This book traces the development of fiscal policy in Bahrain, relates it to changing political and social conditions and discusses the increasing difficulties facing the government. It considers attempts to diversify the economy, notably into Islamic banking, and sets the problems in the wider context of economies and international relations in the Gulf, and academic debates about the nature of the rentier state.

Abdulla Abdulaal completed his doctorate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London