After the Sheikhs: The Coming Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies Paperback – 18 Jun 2015

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Review ------ 'This fine-tuned monarchical resilience, Davidson argues, cannot be sustained for much longer. Immense internal pressures are building up and the pressure-cooker is about to explode. Davidson marshals an impressive array of evidence.' --The Independent 'Mr Davidson is one of the most knowledgeable academics writing about the region. He sets out his scenario of monarchical doom with authoritative and often riveting detail. … Plainly he is right that each of the monarchs has cause to worry.' --The Economist 'An important account. . . This is an unsentimental story of hard-nosed political calculation, conspicuous consumption (the UAE is the world's biggest consumer of scotch), opaque budgets and sovereign wealth funds that hoover up assets such as Harrods and the Emirates Stadium.' --The Guardian Review ------ This fine-tuned monarchical resilience, Davidson argues, cannot be sustained for much longer. Immense internal pressures are building up and the pressure-cooker is about to explode. Davidson marshals an impressive array of evidence. (The Independent) Mr Davidson is one of the most knowledgeable academics writing about the region. He sets out his scenario of monarchical doom with authoritative and often riveting detail. - Plainly he is right that each of the monarchs has cause to worry. (The Economist) An important account... This is an unsentimental story of hard-nosed political calculation, conspicuous consumption (the UAE is the world's biggest consumer of scotch), opaque budgets and sovereign wealth funds that hoover up assets such as Harrods and the Emirates Stadium. (The Guardian) Davidson is to be commended for producing such a compact but lucid volume on an area of the world that is largely obscure to the general public in the West. (The Muslim World Book Review) Rigorous and empirically sound - highly recommended. (Choice) In After the Sheikhs Christopher Davidson argues that the Gulf regimes will be gone - at least in their current form - within the next two to five years. Although the demise of the Gulf regimes has long been announced, Davidson's audacious prediction should not be lightly dismissed. The dynamics he analyses and the facts he has gathered, based on long-term observation of the region, provide tantalising clues that profound change may indeed be at close hand. (Dirk Vandewalle, Associate Professor of Government, Dartmouth College) After the Sheikhs is a book of tremendous value. It applies a rigorously constructed theoretical framework to a rich array of empirical data in order to assess the long-term survivability of some of the world's last authoritarian holdouts. For anyone interested in understanding the post-2011 Middle East, this is essential reading. (Mehran Kamrava, Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University, Qatar) At a time when the Gulf Kingdoms arrogantly boast of having avoided the e of their neighbours in the revolutions of the Arab Spring, this book provides a convincing counter-narrative and a powerful warning to rulers who treat their countries as personal fiefdoms. (Waleed Abu Alkair, Head of Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia) Genuine political participation, social justice, freedom and human rights in the context of full citizenship have become everyday terminology in the Gulf over the last couple of years. And although the total collapse of deep-rooted monarchies is not envisioned, in the long run parliamentary constitutional monarchies could prevail in the region. Christopher Davidson has written an important book, but only time will tell whether its thesis plays out. (Ahmed Mansoor, human rights activist and former political prisoner, UAE) Davidson demonstrates his fore and relevancy in his bold predictions of the imminent collapse of Gulf monarchies made before and during the so-called Arab Spring. This book must be read by every Western policymaker betting on the status quo in the GCC, by every pro-democracy activist struggling to realise Davidson's predicted outcome, and by every GCC citizen dreaming of a better future but made to fear the worst if change was to come. (Ala'a Shehabi, writer, pro-democracy activist, founder, Bahrain Watch)