View source for State of Bahrain

{{Short description|Country in the Persian Gulf (1971–2002)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = State of Bahrain
| native_name            = {{lang|ar|دولة البحرين}}<br />''{{Transliteration|ar|Dawlat al-Baḥrayn}}''
| common_name            = Bahrain
| p1                     = Bahrain and its Dependencies 
| flag_p1                = Flag_of_Bahrain_(1932_to_1972).svg
| s1                     = Kingdom of Bahrain
| flag_s1                = Flag of Bahrain.svg
| image_flag             = Flag of Bahrain (1972-2002).svg
| image_coat             = Emblem of Bahrain (1971-2002).svg
| flag                   = Flag of Bahrain
| flag_type              = Flag (1972–2002)
| national_motto         =
| national_anthem        = {{lang|ar|نشيد البحرين الوطني}}<br />''[[Bahrainona|Baḥraynunā]]''<br />''Our Bahrain''<br /><div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">[[File:Bahraini Anthem.ogg|center]]</div>
| image_map              = Map_of_Bahrain.svg
| image_map_caption      = Location of Bahrain
| capital                = [[Manama]]
| latd                   =
| latm                   =
| latNS                  =
| longd                  =
| longm                  =
| longEW                 =
| common_languages       = Arabic
| religion               = [[Islam]] ([[official religion]])<ref>http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_State_of_Bahrain_(1973) Constitution_of_the_State_of_Bahrain_(1973)</ref>
| government_type        = [[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[absolute monarchy]]
| title_leader           = [[Emir of Bahrain|Emir]]
| leader1                = [[Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifa]]
| year_leader1           = 1971–1999
| leader2                = [[Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa]]
| year_leader2           = 1999–2002
| title_deputy           = [[Prime Minister of Bahrain|Prime Minister]]
| deputy1                = [[Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa]]
| year_deputy1           = 1971–2002
| legislature            = None ([[rule by decree]]) (until 1973 and after 1975)<br>[[National Assembly of Bahrain|National Assembly]] (in 1973–1975)
| era                    =
| year_start             = 1971
| date_start             = 15 August
| event_start            = Independence from the United Kingdom
| year_end               = 2002
| date_end               = 14 February
| event_end              = Elevated to Kingdom
| currency               = Bahraini dinar
| today                  = [[Bahrain]]
| stat_year1             = 1971
| stat_pop1              = 216,078<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.moh.gov.bh/PDF/Publications/statistics/HS2011/PDF/CH-02%20census_2011.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=20 June 2013 |archive-date=28 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128142310/http://www.moh.gov.bh/PDF/Publications/Statistics/HS2011/PDF/CH-02%20census_2011.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| stat_year2             = 2001
| stat_pop2              = 650,604
}}

The '''State of Bahrain''' ({{langx|ar|دولة البحرين|translit=Dawlat al-Baḥrayn}}) was the name of [[Bahrain]] from 1971 to 2002.
On 15 August 1971, Bahrain declared independence and signed a new treaty of friendship with the United Kingdom. Bahrain joined the United Nations and the [[Arab League]] later in the year.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle East and North Africa 2004|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1-85743-184-7|page=225|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pP315Mw3S9EC&pg=PA225}}</ref>
The oil boom of the 1970s benefited Bahrain greatly, although the subsequent downturn hurt the economy. The country had already begun diversification of its economy and benefited further from [[Lebanese Civil War]] in the 1970s and 1980s, when Bahrain replaced [[Beirut]] as the Middle East's financial hub after Lebanon's large banking sector was driven out of the country by the war.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{cite web |url=https://nationalpost.com/story.html?id=9be313d4-b349-40e2-a5f0-05fe3ee3a17a |title=Bahrain |work=National Post |archive-date=4 September 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904024610/http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=9be313d4-b349-40e2-a5f0-05fe3ee3a17a |access-date=5 October 2012}}</ref>

Following the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic revolution]] in [[Iran]], in 1981 [[Shia in Bahrain|Bahraini Shī'a]] fundamentalists orchestrated a failed [[1981 Bahraini coup attempt|coup attempt]] under the auspices of a front organisation, the [[Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain]]. The coup would have installed a [[Shia clergy|Shī'a cleric]] exiled in Iran, [[Hujjat al-Islam|Hujjatu l-Islām]] [[Hadi al-Modarresi|Hādī al-Mudarrisī]], as supreme leader heading a [[theocracy|theocratic government]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953597-4,00.html |title=Gulf States: Stay Just on the Horizon, Please |author=Talbott, Strobe |date=25 October 1982 |magazine=Time |archive-date=3 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003125315/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953597-4,00.html |access-date=2 October 2012}}</ref> In December 1994, a group of youths threw stones at female runners during an international marathon for running bare-legged. The resulting clash with police soon grew into civil unrest.<ref>{{citation|url=|title=Bahrain remains stable despite arson attacks that took place in the country |author=Darwish, Adel |date=1 March 1999 |work=The Middle East|url-access=|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83925934.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117074426/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83925934.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 January 2013 |title=The Rich/Poor & Sunni/Shiite Rift |date=18 March 2002 |work=APS Diplomat |publisher=|access-date=5 October 2012}}</ref>

A [[1990s uprising in Bahrain|popular uprising]] occurred between 1994 and 2000 in which leftists, liberals and Islamists joined forces.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/1999/issue1/jv3n1a7.html |title=Rebellion in Bahrain |author=Darwish, Adel |date=March 1999 |journal=Middle East Review of International Affairs|volume=3 |issue=1  |archive-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414210838/http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/1999/issue1/jv3n1a7.html |access-date=2 October 2012}}</ref> The event resulted in approximately forty deaths and ended after [[Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa]] became the Emir of Bahrain in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bahrain's monarch opens parliament after a span of nearly 30 years|author=Malik, Adnan|publisher=Associated Press |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-70367092.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117074431/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-70367092.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 January 2013|date=14 December 2002}}</ref> A referendum on 14–15 February 2001 massively supported the [[National Action Charter of Bahrain|National Action Charter]].<ref name="UNDP-POGAR">{{Cite web| title =Country Theme: Elections: Bahrain|publisher =[[United Nations Development Program|UNDP]]-Programme on Governance in the Arab Region| year =2011| url =http://www.pogar.org/countries/theme.aspx?t=3&cid=2| access-date =9 February 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110510021433/http://www.pogar.org/countries/theme.aspx?t=3&cid=2 |archive-date=10 May 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> He instituted elections for parliament, gave women the right to vote, and released all political prisoners. As part of the adoption of the National Action Charter on 14 February 2002, Bahrain changed its formal name from the State (''dawla'') of Bahrain to the Kingdom of Bahrain.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Kingdom of Bahrain: The Constitutional Changes |url=http://www.theestimate.com/public/022202b.html |access-date=17 February 2011| newspaper=The Estimate: Political and Security Analysis of the Islamic World and its Neighbors |date=22 February 2002}}</ref>

==The constitutional experiment==

{{see also|Bahraini parliamentary election, 1973}}
Based on its new [[Constitution of Bahrain|constitution]], Bahraini men elected its first [[National Assembly of Bahrain|National Assembly]] in 1973 (although Article 43 of the [[s:Constitution of the State of Bahrain (1973)|1973 Constitution]] states that the Assembly is to be elected by "[[universal suffrage]]", the conditional clause "in accordance with the provisions of the electoral law" allowed the regime to prevent women from participating). Although the Assembly and the then emir [[Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa]] quarreled over a number of issues: foreign policy; the [[United States 5th Fleet|U.S. naval presence]], and the budget, the biggest clash came over the [[State Security Law of 1974|State Security Law]] (SSL). The Assembly refused to ratify the government-sponsored law, which allowed, among other things, the arrest and detention of people for up to three years, (renewable) without a trial.

The legislative stalemate over this act created a public crisis, and on 25 August 1975, the emir dissolved the Assembly. The emir then ratified the State Security Law by decree, and suspended those articles in the constitution dealing with the legislative powers of the Assembly. In that same year, the emir established the [[State Security Court]], whose judgments were not subject to appeal.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14541322 | work=BBC News | title=Bahrain profile | date=19 September 2013}}</ref>

==Constitution of 1973==
{{Wikisource|Constitution of the State of Bahrain (1973)}}

The constitution of 1973 was written shortly after Bahrain's independence from Britain in 1971. In 1972, the then ruler Shaikh [[Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa]] issued a decree providing for the election of a Constituent Assembly that would be responsible for drafting and ratifying the constitution. The electorate of the constituent assembly was native-born male citizens aged twenty years or older. The constituent assembly consisted of twenty-two elected delegates, plus the twelve members of the Council of Ministers and eight members directly appointed by the emir Shaikh Isa.<ref name="FRD">[https://books.google.com/books?id=OsSPaxEpUS4C&pg=PA97 Bahrain], [[Federal Research Division]], 2004, [[Kessinger Publishing]], pp 97 – 98</ref>

The constitution drawn up provided for a [[unicameral]] legislature (the [[National Assembly of Bahrain|National Assembly]]) consisting of 30 members elected through "universal suffrage" (though franchise was restricted to males), plus fourteen royally-appointed government ministers who are [[ex officio member]]s. The constitution was enacted by amiri decree in December 1973.<ref name="FRD" />

Only one parliamentary election was ever held under the 1973 Constitution (see: [[Bahraini parliamentary election, 1973]]) before it was abrogated by the emir Shaikh Isa in 1975. The country was governed under emergency laws from 1975 to 2002.<ref name="FRD" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Bahrain topics}}
{{coord missing|Bahrain}}

[[Category:History of Bahrain]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1971]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 2002]]
[[Category:1971 establishments in Bahrain]]
[[Category:2000s disestablishments in Bahrain]]