Bahrain-Group+B


 * Part I-A Look at the Nation**

__Total Population:__
 * Demographics:**
 * 1,214,705

__Median Age:__
 * total: 30.9 years
 * male: 32.2 years
 * female: 28.1 years

__Ethnic Groups:__
 * Bahraini 62.4%
 * non-Bahraini 37.6% (2001 census)

__Religions:__ [|CIA-Factbook]
 * Muslim (Shia and Sunni) 81.2%
 * Christian 9%
 * other 9.8% (2001 census)

[|Geography]
 * __Geography:__**
 * Terrain: mostly low desert plain rising gently to low central escarpment
 * Area: 760 sq km in total which is 3.5 times the size of Washington, DC
 * Climate: influenced by hot summers and cool, mild winters

[|Bahrain Map]

__Economic Resources:__ · Bahrain's economy continues to depend heavily on oil · Bahrain's second biggest export, after oil, is aluminum · Other economic activities include finance, and construction. · Bahrain competes with Malaysia as a worldwide center for Islamic banking. · Bahrain is continuing a search for new natural gas supplies to help support its expanding industries in petrochemicals and aluminum. [|CIA Factbook]

__Imports & Exports__: [|CIA-Factbook] [|Business Intelligence Middle East] [|Bahrain Business]
 * Major Export Products: petroleum and petroleum products, aluminum, & textiles
 * Main Destinations of Exports (2006): India, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Australia, Japan
 * Major Import Products: crude oil, machinery, chemicals
 * Main Origins of Imports (2008): Saudi Arabia, Japan, US, China, Germany, South Korea, UK, France, Australia
 * [|.gov]**

__Main mineral resources: __ [|Britannica] [|World Desk Reference]
 * Oil, natural gas, & petroleum

__Occupations:__ [|CIA-Factbook]
 * Typical Jobs:**
 * agriculture: 1%
 * industry: 79%
 * services: 20% (1997 est.)
 * Over 15% unemployment rates

__Type of Government:__ __Elections:__ [|World Desk Reference]
 * Political Structure:**
 * Constitutional Monarchy: a system of government in which a monarch is guided by a constitution whereby his/her rights, duties, and responsibilities are spelled out in written law or by custom
 * The monarchy is hereditary; prime minister appointed by the monarch. Cabinet is also appointed by the monarch.
 * Legislative Branch elections for the Council of Representatives is held every 4 years.
 * High levels of government borrowing.
 * [|CIA-Factbook]**


 * Part II-Timeline**

1961 - __//Sheikh Isa Bin-Salman Al Khalifa becomes ruler of Bahrain//____//.//__ [] 1971- //__Bahrain gains official independence from Britain,also knows as Independence Day__//! This is a really important year in the citizens of Bahrain, they are 100% free and independent.

2002- __//For the first time women can vote//__. This is a huge event in the history of Bahrain, finally there is some equality between women and men in the country.

2006- __//President George Bush and Bahrain signed an agreement about free trade//__. This is really good for the economy and the country of Bahrain, because everyone will benefit from it.

2011- __//Protesting against violated human rights and torture starts.//__ They are also demanding better living conditions, higher salaries and jobs. Every time people protest, they are met with tear gas, rubber bullets, and heavy beatings. [] This is what the Prince has to say about the violence and protests that is happening right now.

resources:
[|http://news.bbc.co.uk] [|http://www.teamliquid.net]

In Bahrain the government doesn't meet the 5- purposes. One case, is womens' rights. Women are not allowed to work, or vote without the permission of a man. The government does not meet the purpose of protection because women and men are not equal, and do not have equal rights. Women are not treated fairly. They are the ones that mostly get executed for crimes like adultury. Women are not given their rights unless they are allowed by a man and they can't do anything to go against them. Bahrain tries hard to keep order. They bring in many soldiers to come and stop protesters before they get too crazy. They do well in enforcing the laws they make. The soldiers enforce the laws and they stop all the protestors so that the country stays well.
 * Part III-Legitimacy and the Current Leader & Government**
 * Protection**
 * Keeping order**

Bahrain is doing pretty good with their economy. In 2006 the U.S. signed a free- trading bill that allowed them to trade resources without paying to transport them. They also have a strong economy because they are the second largest oil producers. Although their economy has gone down a little they are still able to function. Bahrain has some sort of way to solve conflicts. They have courts if a man and a woman want to get divorced. But, a woman can't say she wants to divorce her husband, the husband has to be the one to file for a divorce. Also, they give custody to the father instead of the mother. In addition, they kill the women if they don't follow what the men say. They only have courts to solve conflicts between people. They also have executions of people, especially women, by stoning them or cutting their hands off.
 * Economy**
 * Solving Conflict**

They don't really meet the Services because they don't really provide them. Only 14% of the money they have goes to providing services. (state.gov) Some of the places people live in are in really bad condition because they can't get services like garbage pickers and all other kinds of services. Most of the places are really dirty and that is mostly where the lower clss people live.
 * Services**

Bahrain's leader is a king named Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. (infoplease.com) They actually do have legitimacy. They provide most of the 5 purposes so they meet legitimacy. Even though they treat women harshly and dont really provide them their rights. They do all the other purposes well even though they don't really provide services either. The king is trying to change things and one thing he should definitely change is protection for women because everyone should be equal. __**Revolt:**__ The people who are trying to revolt are mostly the women. Sometimes it can be men that protest other problems they might have. __**Reason:**__ They are being treated unequally and they get punished for everything and the men have all control over them. It can be very dangerous because you can get killed by protesting. __**Organization:**__ Several people posted on their Facebook pages and/or made websites about the next day's protest they are planning to do. At first, it was nothing. There were no posters, nothing except several people. As days went on, more and more people joined and there were posters. Protesters were not trying to be violent, but the security forces returned with violence to the protests and didn't think twice about using their guns.There are protest leaders, but no names are mentioned. [] []
 * Leader and legitimacy**
 * Part IV-Current Uprising**

__**Overthrowing the Government:**__ Protesters in Bahrain started with having peaceful, but powerful protests. They didn't try to start violence. Violence has erupted,as the security forces fired on a crowd of anti-demonstrators who were marching to the Pearl Square on a late Friday afternoon. A funeral followed of one of those killed. A lot of the protesters were killed or injured, but the rest are not backing up. [|http://voices.washingtonpost.com] [] a video of the security forces shooting and killing 4 protesters on the 17th,February 2011 __**Government Response:**__ Bahrain protests were first aimed at gaining political freedom and equality for the majority of the Shia population and they expanded to wanting to overthrow the monarchy of King Hamad. The anti-government protestors were unarmed, plotting their protests in the least harmful ways. They engaged in peaceful demonstrations. They used media and social networking to their advantage by posting information about their protests on a Facebook page. After finding out about this page, the government shut it down, arresting a few of the bloggers. The government also banned the publishing of the newspaper Al-Wasat. But, the newspaper continued printing despite the government saying it had broken many press laws. After a long time of violence, on March 14, the king invited in 2,000 troops. The first day of demonstrations was met with an aggressive police response and zero tolerance. King Khalifa declared an emergency, and security forces cleared Pearl Square using bullets and tear gas. Emergency laws give the security forces the right to search houses. This made people look down on the King, saying he used armed forces on innocent, calm protestors. The Bahraini government had originally appeared willing to compromise with the opposition, and “dialogue” as the King is saying now. At no cost do the protestors want to back down. [|NY Times] [|2011 Bahraini Protests]

The crown prince, Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, continued to call for a national dialogue and period of mourning as a step toward reconciliation. March 18, the Bahraini government tore down the protest movement’s defining monument, the pearl at the center of Pearl Square, a symbolic strike that carried a sense of finality. With no one willing to back down, the government has not changed yet and the revolt has not ended. What is to happen is yet to be found out, and what will happen is yet to follow. __[|NY Times]__
 * __The end__ __not yet seen:__**