The Middle East has been known for being a hot spot of political turmoil and suppression. Surprisingly, however, there have been a group of nations who have been able to maintain their authoritarian regimes within their respective states, all of which then form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). These states include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and Oman which will be discussed more specifically in this paper. All of the nations in the GCC take the form of monarchies and are the last remaining monarchies in the Middle East. In order to maintain its authoritarian government, Sultan Qaboos of Oman has led his nation to be classified as “not free” by the Freedom House, an organization that studies various countries’ levels of freedom
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Absolute Monarchy is a system in which a single ruler rules with complete command over the entire government. This is differentiated from a similar version of monarchy, Dynastic Monarchy, in which the ruler has the aid and help of his family, who in turn keep a check on such a ruler. Qaboos took over in a palace coup in 1970, rebelling against his father and instituting an Absolute Monarchy. The government of Oman is constituted of an absolute monarch and “since the legislative power resides in the monarch (Art. 42), the Oman Council (Art. 58) is an advisory institution rather than a full parliamentary body”. This body is part elected, the Majlis Al Shura, and part appointed by the Oman, the Majlis Al Dawla. This allows for some electoral process for the citizens, who, if 21 and above, were granted almost universal suffrage in 2003. However, this group is merely a consultation body and thus has no power whatsoever over the legislative duties or actions of the state, which rest solely in the hands of Qaboos. This leads to a lack of political parties, as they are outlawed in Oman, and thus the Omani government, and Qaboos himself, face no political opposition. This helps the regime maintain control over the people as there is no threat to its power nor an alternative leader for the people to get behind. Previously, although, there was the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman which fought for the creation of a democratic state in Oman. This eventually disappeared from Omani politics altogether, or as Abdulla Habib, a fervent opponent of the government, said, “[the] Popular Front is finished and no longer represents a political or military threat to the government”. There are still calls for democracy however, but those calls do not grow into anything more than mere calls. On top of outlawing political parties, Qaboos does not have his family keep
Absolute Monarchy is a system in which a single ruler rules with complete command over the entire government. This is differentiated from a similar version of monarchy, Dynastic Monarchy, in which the ruler has the aid and help of his family, who in turn keep a check on such a ruler. Qaboos took over in a palace coup in 1970, rebelling against his father and instituting an Absolute Monarchy. The government of Oman is constituted of an absolute monarch and “since the legislative power resides in the monarch (Art. 42), the Oman Council (Art. 58) is an advisory institution rather than a full parliamentary body”. This body is part elected, the Majlis Al Shura, and part appointed by the Oman, the Majlis Al Dawla. This allows for some electoral process for the citizens, who, if 21 and above, were granted almost universal suffrage in 2003. However, this group is merely a consultation body and thus has no power whatsoever over the legislative duties or actions of the state, which rest solely in the hands of Qaboos. This leads to a lack of political parties, as they are outlawed in Oman, and thus the Omani government, and Qaboos himself, face no political opposition. This helps the regime maintain control over the people as there is no threat to its power nor an alternative leader for the people to get behind. Previously, although, there was the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman which fought for the creation of a democratic state in Oman. This eventually disappeared from Omani politics altogether, or as Abdulla Habib, a fervent opponent of the government, said, “[the] Popular Front is finished and no longer represents a political or military threat to the government”. There are still calls for democracy however, but those calls do not grow into anything more than mere calls. On top of outlawing political parties, Qaboos does not have his family keep