Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy rules a Shia majority it systematically privileges against

Evidence

No country had more reason to pray for the arrival of a metaphorical “spring” than Bahrain, the island nation in the Gulf of Arabia. This is a very hot part of the world, but there is more coastline here than dry sand, more beach than desert, and for centuries locals were renowned as skilled pearl divers. In 1783 the country was conquered by Sunni Arabs from the peninsula to the west, and the House of Khalifa has ruled Bahrain ever since. As 2011 began, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, a close ally of the House of Saud, ruled as king. Bahrain is majority Shia, and the royal family systematically privileges the Sunni minority and excludes the Shia from the benefits of full citizenship. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 249

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains that Bahrain’s conflict is a sectarian majoritarian-exclusion one, distinct from Egypt and Tunisia’s republican grievances.
• XREF: connects to: External great-power pressure forced Bahrain’s opposition to self-limit its demands — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 251; Iraq’s Shia majority endured Sunni ascendancy across a millennium of regimes — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1434; Iraq was ruled by a Sunni minority despite a Shiite majority — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1602 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Iraq was ruled by a Sunni minority despite a Shiite majority #corroborates (0.88) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1602
• Iraq’s Shia majority endured Sunni ascendancy across a millennium of regimes #corroborates (0.84) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1434
• Iraq’s Shia majority has been ruled by Sunnis since the Middle Ages. #corroborates (0.82)
• Neighboring Sunni Gulf states invaded Bahrain to crush its cross-sectarian uprising #expands (0.75) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 255
• External great-power pressure forced Bahrain’s opposition to self-limit its demands #qualifies (0.72) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 251