The nature of succession in the Gulf

The unfolding crisis of succession in the Middle East has received consider able attention in recent years. This is particularly true in the Gulf where four of the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are led by ag ing rulers and the other two rulers, younger and recently enthroned, have c hosen to take their small states on unprecedented and somewhat radical cour ses. It is disturbing that the mechanisms for the transferral of power rema in disconcertingly vague and ambiguous. Effective leadership depends on hav ing the right personalities in charge, and this is never an easy task in a hereditary system. As the Gulf regimes complete their transformation from s haykhly systems to monarchies, the question of succession will become an in creasingly difficult problem.