Delegates made a controversial call to set up what one former government minister called "civic states" in the region, while a woman university professor said citizens should be government partners in a region ruled
by men. At the close of a three-day forum in the UAE, the outspoken Emirati academic also warned on Wednesday that denying political rights would not be a sustainable policy once the current oil-driven economic boom ends.
The people must be allowed to "participate in government and be part of the decision-making process," Ibtisam Al Kutbi, associate professor of political science at UAE University, told the conference on options "between conservatism and change."
"There must be separation of powers (between the executive, legislative and judiciary) based on the establishment of constitutional monarchies," she said.
The gathering was organised by the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, a think tank backed by the Abu Dhabi government.
It also heard calls for modernising education as part of a comprehensive programme of change. Kutbi also charged that the states in the Gulf region "lack independent judiciaries" and practise discrimination along "sectarian, regional and tribal" lines.
Citizens of the Gulf states are treated as subjects rather than partners, she added.
Kuwait has made greater steps towards democracy than any other Gulf Arab state, but even there the emirate’s ruler can dissolve parliament-and did so only last month after a standoff between the elected house and the government. Early elections are now due there in May.
Bahrain also has an elected parliament, but this is counterbalanced by an appointed Upper House. The other Gulf Arab states — Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE-have consultative rather than legislative assemblies. Political parties remain banned across the region, although political groups operate as de facto parties in Kuwait
and Bahrain.
Hassan Al Ansari, editor-in-chief of a Doha-based newspaper and head of a research centre in Doha, warned that some Gulf countries face dismemberment unless they establish "civic states based on political
participation." The "seeds of dismemberment" exist because the region’s natives belong to "different tribes and sects," he said. Kutbi said political change in the region has been "cosmetic" at a time when governments have not hesitated to open up and modernise their economies even if that meant allowing practices that "flout Arab and (Islamic) religious values." Gulf states host millions of expatriates from Asian, Western and Arab countries — foreigners make up nearly 40 percent of a combined Gulf population of about 37 million.
Kutbi said that while Gulf citizens may tolerate a denial of political rights while they enjoy economic prosperity, "eyes will not remain closed in the event of a downturn."
Islamist systems of government also came under fire during the conference.
Gulf countries should be "civic states, not religious states, because I believe that a religious state clashes with modernity," said Kuwaiti former information minister Saad Al Ajmi.
