Bill and Springborg has argued that " the leaders of the Gulf states have all adopted policies of revision that are actually blendings of repression and reform, coercion and co-optation. The mixture is quite different from one country to another. In Saudi Arabia in particular but also in Bahrain, the emphasis is away from reform and toward control" (302).

Palmer (202) followed the same line of analysis when emphasizing that the "insecurity of Saudi elite also goes a long way toward explaining the repressiveness of the regime and its reluctance to allow reforms that would curtail its authority."

How do you view the present human rights' abuses in Bahrain and the involvement of Saudi Arabia in crushing the democracy movement in Bahrain? is the international community displaying a double standard by helping to restore the "cohesiveness of the royal families" in the Gulf region and ignore these abuses for strategic reasons? Is Saudi Arabia next in political unrest? (try to speculate)