How Citizenship Informs Political Authority: The Case of Kuwait and Bahrain Noor Yousuf AlSaleh A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2018 Reading Committee: Daniel Chirot, Chair Attiya Ahmad Scott Montgomery Jonathan Warren Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies © Copyright 2018 Noor Yousuf AlSaleh University of Washington Abstract How Citizenship Informs Political Authority: The Case of Kuwait and Bahrain Noor Yousuf AlSaleh Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Daniel Chirot Department of International Studies Both Bahrain and Kuwait’s monarchies use citizenship as a reward and punishment system to maintain political authority. The ability to award or revoke citizenship is perhaps the most important tool for political governance in these two states. At the same time, there is a more nuanced sense of a social – as opposed to political – concept of citizenship that comes into play, which is just as important. Each Persian Gulf nation has undertaken policies to naturalize foreigners and residents (e.g., bidoon, the native-born, but stateless population) to different degrees and in different ways, and each nation has its distinct processes of awarding – or revoking – citizenship. By comparing the historical, social, and political patterns of the integration and exclusion of citizens and non-citizens in Kuwait and Bahrain using an argument that re-evaluates the efficacy of rentier state theory as well as ideas on dynastic monarchism and social and national identity, I aim to explore the political repercussions of citizenship – both for those governing and those who are governed. I also examine the two governments’ laws and practices of naturalization to better understand why and how citizenship is used as a tool for political governance in the Gulf. With Bahrain and Kuwait being such similar states with comparable conditions and welfare benefits to being included, why have their governments followed certain approaches, and why have they differed so extensively in their manipulation of citizenship policies in the past? I argue that the main factors at play in determining the practices of citizenship manipulation in these two nations are 1. The closeness of relations between the merchant elite and the ruling families in Kuwait, but not Bahrain, 2. the ethno-religious fragmentation in Bahrain between the Shia majority and Sunni ruling family, and 3. the bonding effects of the 1990 Iraqi invasion in Kuwait. The variables of socio-political linkages, religious divides, national identity, external threats, and perceived natural resources have produced different responses and results in Kuwait and Bahrain. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION AND METHODS ..................................................................................................... 1 a. Background and Explanatory Framework ....................................................................................... 1 b. Case Selection .................................................................................................................................. 3 c. Terms and Measurement .................................................................................................................. 6 d. Theoretical Understandings of Citizenship ...................................................................................... 7 e. Driving Questions .......................................................................................................................... 12 f. Islam as a Source of Legitimacy? .................................................................................................. 14 g. Limitations ..................................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER ONE: FROM PRE- TO POST- OIL GULF ....................................................................... 19 a. Framing the Rise of Dynastic Monarchism in Kuwait and Bahrain .............................................. 23 i. Kuwait ...................................................................................................................................................... 23 ii. Bahrain ..................................................................................................................................................... 27 b. Indigenous Agency and the Dawn of the Oil Era .......................................................................... 31 i. Kuwait, Oil, and the Indian Ocean ........................................................................................................... 33 ii. Bahrain, Britain, and Persia ...................................................................................................................... 41 c. Analysis: Pax Britannica and the Indian Ocean Trade .................................................................. 47 d. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER TWO: ETHNO-RELIGIOUS FRAGMENTATION .............................................................. 53 a. The Sunni-Shia Divide ................................................................................................................... 54 i. The Spread of Discrimination from the Public to the Private ................................................................... 57 ii. Sectarianism Spikes in 2011 ..................................................................................................................... 59 iii. Alienation of the Sunni Protesters ............................................................................................................ 61 iv. Kuwait’s Arab Spring and Different Cleavages ....................................................................................... 65 b. Institutionalizing Discrimination through the Kafala System ....................................................... 69 i. Kafala in Kuwait ...................................................................................................................................... 69 ii. Kafala Amid Unemployment in Bahrain .................................................................................................. 79 c. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 80 CHAPTER THREE: CONSTRUCTING CITIZENSHIP ....................................................................... 82 a. Nationality Law in Kuwait and Bahrain ........................................................................................ 84 b. Narratives of National Identity ...................................................................................................... 87 i. Tools to Build a Purified National Identity .............................................................................................. 89 ii. Limited Resources: The Ultimate Tool .................................................................................................... 99 iii. Approaching Challenges: Populism, Taxation, and the Public Sector.................................................... 100 iv. Designating Difference in Dress Code ................................................................................................... 105 c. Exclusion and the Plight of the Bidoon ....................................................................................... 108 i. Kuwait’s Migrant Military ...................................................................................................................... 111 ii. The Bidoon Today .................................................................................................................................. 114 iii. Bidoon in Bahrain ................................................................................................................................... 119 d. Discouraging Dissent and Revoking Citizenship ......................................................................... 121 e. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 123 CHAPTER FOUR: EXTERNAL AND REGIONAL THREATS ........................................................... 125 a. Regional Territorial Politics: Iraq in Kuwait ............................................................................... 127 i. What the Invasion Taught Kuwaitis about Democracy .......................................................................... 130 ii. Parliamentary Politics After 1990 .......................................................................................................... 133 iii. Demographic Redistribution after Liberation ......................................................................................... 137 b. Regional Religious Politics: Iran and Saudi Arabia in Bahrain ................................................... 144 i. Saudi Arabia as a Regional Powerbroker ............................................................................................... 146 ii. Kuwait’s Involvement in Bahrain’s Sectarianism .................................................................................. 152 iii. Human Rights as a Transnational Norm? ..............................................................................................