Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Women empowerment in the Gulf has become a tool of deflection rather than a genuine effort to promote women’s full and equal participation in society.
Although the issue of women is prominent in the artwork of Arab women artists, the freedom that women artists enjoy is limited due to censorship, whether it is self-imposed or institutional.
The recent eruption of protests in Oman has highlighted the efficiency of dynamic citizen journalism, which utilized social media platforms to freely cover events and express opinions, in contrast to the shackled state-owned media, which appeared to be lagging and unable to provide accountable reporting of events.
The recent protests and the effects of the pandemic have emphasized the need to expedite structural economic reforms.
The Sultanate of Oman’s policies toward women are inconsistent, not particularly progressive, and do not enjoy strong government support.
The law of the Oman Council bolstered the government’s control not only in the unilateral decisionmaking process but also granting it the right to reject any proposed law submitted by the Council.
Oman’s growing influence in Syria could make it an increasingly important diplomatic actor there, though the Sultanate must tread carefully.
GCC countries are caught up in Chinese-U.S. competition over tech infrastructure. A failure to appease both powers risks endangering critical relationships.
The shifting relationships between armies and civil society are revealing new balances within defense structures.
Gulf states are expanding the scope of their military education programs to build a new generation of decisionmakers capable of realizing their strategic ambitions.
Oman’s drive for economic diversification is contributing to its rapprochement with Israel, which can offer its expertise and technology for agriculture, entrepreneurship, and defense.
Sada launches its first eBook, a collection of essays that explores the region’s deep political changes since the Arab uprisings.
The responses of Gulf Cooperation Council countries to the 2011 uprisings only reinforce a culture of state dependency.
Tunisia’s 217-member Constituent Assembly must now write a constitution. What are the next stages of institutional reform?
In the wake of the region’s political tremors, Gulf monarchies are claiming reform of their security sectors. But are the changes enough—and are they genuine?
Gulf parliaments have come to provide some semblance of democratic representation, but all are struggling against dominant regimes and must organize politically and carve out a distinctive role to better represent the people.
A survey of women's political status in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states shows that in some countries women have recently made considerable progress toward formal equality of political rights, but in others they have not. The governing elite in the GCC countries generally supports women's political rights, but strong social sentiment against women's participation in politics persists.
On October 27, Omanis will elect representatives to their 85-member lower house of parliament, the Shura Council, for four year terms beginning in 2008. Some analysts consider the Council, established in 1991, to be the most advanced in the Gulf region apart from Kuwait's, and see it as part of a gradual move toward democracy and wider popular participation.