Eighteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Both Kuwait and Bahrain’s monarchies use citizenship as a reward and/or punishment system to maintain political authority. 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 the Persian Gulf (particularly those of Kuwait and Bahrain) and using an argument that re-evaluates the efficacy of rentierism as well as ideas of social and national identity, I 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 Persian Gulf. With Bahrain and Kuwait being such similar states with comparable conditions and benefits to being included, why have their governments followed such different approaches, and why have they differed so extensively in their manipulation of citizenship policies in the past?