RGP Cycle One Grantees and Projects

Omar Al-Shehabi: Sea of Sand: Land Reclamation and the Urban Development of Bahrain

Over the past thirty years, more than 70 km2 of coastal waters have been reconstituted into reclaimed land in the tiny Gulf kingdom of Bahrain. The majority of these coastal waters were reclaimed between 2001 and 2012, during the so-called reform period under the new constitution of 2002. Projections estimate that the total land mass could increase up to 25% of the total size of the island over the next 20 years.

While considered an expression of growth and modernity by the government, these reclamation projects have resulted in far-reaching social, economic, and political consequences. These include the destruction of marine life, vanishment of the public coastline, transformation of social relations, and an inflating housing crisis. However at the core of the problem lies the unequal distribution of land and resources and the acquisition of public properties under the guise of a neoliberal logic operating within a monarchical Gulf state. It is not a coincidence that housing was one of the first issues addressed by the government during the 2001-2002 reforms, and that remained at the root of the internal strife that lead to the 2011 mass demonstrations.

The aim of the research project is multifaceted. One obvious objective is to enumerate these projects and map out the relationship between the state, investment capital, and real-estate developers. But the aim is also to develop a theoretical framework that can elucidate mechanisms involved in the urban development of monarchical rentier states. This would include deconstructing the discourse of development purported by the government and private development firms, and tying it to issues of inequality, mobility, and development. 

Omar AlShehabi is the Director of the Gulf Centre for Development Policies and an Assistant Professor in Economics at the Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait. His previous work experience includes stints at McKinsey, the World Bank and the IMF, as well as a Stipendiary Lecturer in University College, Oxford. He holds a D.Phil. in Economics from Pembroke College, Oxford. His latest book entitled Uprooting has just been released in Arabic from the Centre for Arab Unity Studies in 2012.