This book asks why in recent years the social and economic upheavals in Kuwait and Qatar have been accompanied by a remarkable political continuity. Professor Crystal investigates this apparent anomaly by examining the impact of oil on the formation and destruction of political coalitions and state institutions. Partly based on a year’s fieldwork in the Gulf and making full use of Arabic and Gulf sources, Oil and Politics in the Gulf goes far beyond previously published accounts of the region in its analysis of the effects of oil on domestic politics.