Page 136 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

120 Dubai & Co.

transfer best practices to Qatar-based colleagues in an ongoing
manner. Other universities, including Texas A&M and Carnegie
Mellon, have also created Qatar campuses.
Qatar’s balanced investment in both hard (e.g., gas pipelines
and water plants) and soft (education and health care) infrastruc-
ture bodes well for the country’s future. Qatar’s leaders are keen to
apply significant capital from their current prosperity to making the
state even more competitive in the longer term. Qatar is thus an
upstart whose vision is to ensure that its success is truly lasting.

BAHRAIN: WALL STREET OF THE GULF

Bahrain, a small island-state off the coast of Saudi Arabia, has
played a central role as the Wall Street of the Gulf. Bahrain’s
economic history is one of transition—from being mainly a supplier
of energy to being involved in a range of other sectors, the most
important of which is financial services. Bahrain has been the
GCC’s banking hub since the 1970s and is aggressively striving to
maintain that role as financial centers in Dubai, Doha, and
elsewhere threaten its leadership in the sector.
Bahrain, like Qatar, chose not to join the Trucial States in form-
ing a common state and instead became fully independent in 1971.
Also like Qatar, Bahrain has fewer than a million people, although
its population includes a smaller percentage of expatriates
(less than one-third) than does Qatar’s. And again like Qatar,
Bahrain is home to a major US military installation—in Bahrain’s
case, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. The Al Khalifa family, which has
ruled Bahrain for centuries, remains in power today. While the rul-
ing family—like all rulers of the GCC states—is Sunni, the majority
of Bahrain’s population is Shiite. This phenomenon has created a
unique dynamic in Bahrain and has made the increased democrati-
zation of the country particularly consequential.
Sheikh Hamad bin Isa, who succeeded his father as ruler in
1999, came to office with an agenda of widespread political reform.
His vision was to make Bahrain a constitutional monarchy, with a
balance of power between the ruler and a parliament. The king
appoints the upper chamber of parliament, and the people elect the
lower chamber. Although several Shiite parties (called societies)
boycotted the first elections in 2002, overall turnout was strong.